GRABBINGSAND

I still owe a decent summation of my observations from the road, but those will have to wait.

Instead, I think I’ll reach for a borrowed meme from back in April. Maybe I’ll start a new one here. When I was driving home from the aforementioned roadtrip, a poet was on local public radio. As I turned into my neighborhood, she stepped mightilly into one of the boldest poems I’ve heard in a long while. Reading is not as good as hearing, but still worth the doing.

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I have quite a few things to say about Interstates 75, 24 and 65, as well as some observations about Chattanooga, Nashville and Louisville. But for now, I’ll just let you peruse a selection of photos from a particularly fantastic stop along our way.

Behold, the ZippyMarket.

… after I paid off the mortgage, bought a new car or two and refloored the entire house, I’d have to get me one of these:

I’d need a second iPod too, but all such things are easily within reach for the man who holds a bag o’ cash. (Link Found @ BoingBoing)

In other news, I’m heading up to Kentucky today on a work-sponsored roadtrip. Gray is going, too. Along the way, I hope to snap some roadside attractions and assorted curiosities. If I find anything worth sharing, I’ll Flickr them tomorrow night.

(As of 07/23/2005, this post can be found over at JIVE.)

It’s a tale of two sets of idiots, really.

The premier idiot of the first flock of idiots — let’s call him King Idiot — is the chucklehead game developer at Rockstar who actually coded the now-infamous Hot Coffee minigame into the core content of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Actually, since developers rarely act entirely alone, we need to consider instead a small coterie of idiots. So now we have King Idiot and His Clown Princes. I can just imagine how it all came to pass.

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22 INT. CORRIDOR

COMPUTER VOICE
Program complete. Enter when ready. (*)

Godspeed, Jimmy Doohan.

I’ve been posting elsewhere.

• Two short music reviews (Sinead O’Connor & Motown Remixed) for JIVE.
• A not-at-all-clique-y restaurant review on Metroblogging Atlanta.
• A new set of auto part mystery photos on Flickr.

Those last two items are more connected than they might appear.

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Another Thursday morning. Another day after Wednesday. Another recap of four rounds of blogger-fied trivia at the Mellow Mushroom of Lower Buckhead / Upper Midtown.

But this time was different. It wasn’t the rain. Sunday’s “One Year Anniversary” game had far more precipitation. And it wasn’t the humidity. We’ve gotten used to the tropic haze that descends around our patio’d table. No, last night was altogether special due to age.

Not ours. Theirs. And they just kept arriving. One after another, certifiable teenagers filled the outer and inner decks. Each one seemed to be younger than the last. Normally, I just don’t notice. If you’re under the age of 18 and not wailing away in a high chair, I probably won’t give you a second glance. But for perhaps the first time ever, I found myself muttering things like “God, do I feel old” and “Where is your mother?”

I know, I know … there’s supposed to be a recap in here. Did we win? Did our rivals, The Olson Twins, take the evening’s crown? What about the other guys, the ones with the Huddle House fixation? We didn’t win. The Olson’s didn’t win. And Seat Of Our Pants (they of the Huddle House) didn’t even show up. First Place went to a flock of relative unknowns calling themselves “Little Lebowski’s Urban Achievers” or something equally derivative.

But frankly, with the rampant high fiving and woot-wooting from the teensters and equally annoying self-congratulatory flailings of the sophomore extras from Abercrombie & Fitch central casting, I’m surprised any of us stuck around for the final five questions. Luckilly, I came up with a word to describe the absolute madness of it all. I shared it will Amber last night between questions and I will share it with you all now:

ass·hab·er·dash·er·y ['as-'ha-b&(r)-"da-sh(&-)rE] When so many certifiable asses wearing freshly blocked asshats are gathered in one place, one can only assume that someone in there number has brought along a high-powered asshat-making machine.

Discovery (under the command of Eileen Collins) is scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Launch Pad 39B, on Wednesday, July 13 at 3:51 p.m. EDT.*

So if you could spare a moment or two of positive thinking, a crossed pair of fingers or maybe even a little prayer around that time, a lot of us kids who used to beg long-suffering homeroom teachers to let us watch those early launches in wide-eyed wonder would appreciate it.

Thanks.

* - Update: NASA managers scrubbed the launch of Discovery today due to a faulty fuel sensor.

Football 2
Originally uploaded by Petromyzon.

I wasted so much quality time on a contraption just like this. Using little red LEDs, it was a remarkably engaging simulation of professional football. Your team was red. Your quarterback was bright red. The ball was red … and blinking. And every touchdown was announced with this tinny attempt at a trumpet blast.

Mine is probably in the attic of my parent’s house, sadly baked into the corner of a disintegrating cardboard box and leaking 9-volt innards into the insulation.

Underground & Bus Blasts
Originally uploaded by beckster.

Until I knew better, I was in a low-grade panic. I called my brother’s office. I emailed. Then my mom called with good news. Thankfully, my brother is fine. He’s up north in Birmingham, though he was in the city just yesterday. My sister-in-law is at home some two hours away and the boys are safe.

Now I can stop worrying and just be mad.

“I want to say one thing: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners.”
- Ken Livingston, Mayor of London*

• 7 July 2005 - LiveJournal Community - A constantly updating messageboard full of resources, news and general encouragement.
• London Bombing MeFi Thread - 551 comments and growing, ranging from sympathy to outrage to general snark.

UPDATE: I’ve disabled further comments on this post. Surely there are arguments to be made about motives and conspiracies, but they can keep until later.