November 2007
Monthly Archive
Fri 30 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
TravelComments Off on Friday Ups and Downs
Ups and downs of the week.
 Fireplaces – Very nice on a cold night.
 Empty head – I seem to have run out of blogging material lately.
 Dentistry – I’m finally done. “See you in six months,” he says. Ya, right.
 Christkindlesmarkt – It’s back. Fascinating place to visit. Bratwurst. Glühwein. People watching. Good times.
Fri 23 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
Rant ,
School ,
SportsComments Off on Friday Ups and Downs
Ups and downs of the week.
 Patriots – Keep on rolling.
 Dental work – Not terrible, but bad enough. Plus it’s dragging out to a sixth visit.
 Thanksgiving Break – Been nice having time off.
 Group projects in school – No fun having to rely on others for your grade.
 Celtics – No longer undefeated, but still looking damn good.
Fri 16 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
SportsComments Off on Friday Ups and Downs
Ups and downs of the week.
 AL Rookie of the Year – Dustin Pedroia. Great choice.
 AL Cy Young – Not Josh Beckett. He’s the class of the field, sportswriters be damned.
 Thanksgiving Break – Got most of next week off.
 Thanksgiving Break – Got most of next week off and I need to spend it writing a huge paper.
  Friends in the right places – Good to have.
 Celtics – Undefeated through the first 8 games.
Thu 15 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
StuffComments Off on My new soapbox.
I promised I’d never get into politics or religion or any other controversy on this site. I want Randomography to be a place where you can relax your brain. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have the urge to pontificate from time to time. I was sorely lacking a soapbox from which to opine, so I created The Curious Ostrich. The ostrich is (wrongly) thought to hide its head in the sand when danger approaches. The old “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” schtick. But what if the ostrich was curious? Wouldn’t there be an inner battle between wanting to know and not wanting to know? Well that’s how I feel about a lot of things. Sometimes I want to expose things to the light and put them under a microscope, and other times I’d rather they just go away and leave me blissful in my ignorance. It’s often a matter how bad it gets once I start looking closely. Once the problem gets beyond my ability to wrap my mind around it, the sand starts looking real safe.  I’ve also decided to open the blog up to some co-authors, so you never know who you might find writing there. Maybe a few good discussions will ensue.
Sun 11 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
Rant ,
Sports[2] Comments
Faux Sports is the worst sports network in the world. My nephew, a soldier just back from Iraq and a major Green Bay Packers fan, and I were sitting here enjoying the GB/Minn game when some idiot at Faux Sports (who decided that he/she knew better than all the folks who tuned in to watch the Packers) switched the coverage to the Philly/Wash game. This strikes me as the ultimate act of arrogance and disrespect. We tuned in to watch the Packers (and the Vikings fans no doubt tuned in to watch the Vikings). If we had wanted to watch Philly, we wouldn’t have been tuned in to the Packers game. What makes Faux Sports believe they have the right to deny the Packers and Vikings fans their enjoyment? What right do they have on this Veterans Day to deny a 3 combat tour veteran the enjoyment of watching his Packers win? How dare they disrespect the wishes of their viewers and decide what’s best for them. Shame on them.Â
Fri 9 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
StuffComments Off on Friday Ups and Downs
Ups and downs of the week.
 Autumn – Nice to go several days without having to wash the bugs off the windshield.
 Dentists – Yesterday was my third visit for one aching tooth. And we still haven’t done anything about the tooth.
 Patriots – Yeah, yeah, they got nabbed cheating. But they still beat Indy.
 Bill Belichick – I know “he’s intense” and all that, but a little common courtesy would be nice.
 I-Pass – I don’t need it often, but it’s a real time saver when I do need it.
 Pheasants ( and birds in general) – I nailed two last week. One flew up from the side of the road and bounced off my windshield. No damage to the car. Can’t say the same for the bird.
 Trader Joe’s – Possibly the best food store ever. Wish we could get one here.
Wed 7 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
StuffComments Off on Doldrums
It seems I have little or nothing to write about lately. The semester is chugging along, Thanksgiving is a few weeks away, I’m too busy to read anything except for school, and I have no new tech toys. I started a subscription to Microsoft’s Technet this week, so I should have access to the newest stuff from them soon. That’ll be something, anyway. And the Patriots beat the Colts, so I guess I have a few things to smile about. Now if the Trade Winds would just pick up and get me moving…
Fri 2 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
Rant ,
Sports ,
Stuff ,
Tech/Security ,
TravelComments Off on Friday Ups and Downs
Ups and downs of the week.
 Red Sox – Took it all. Who’da thunk it?
 DSL – What a pain the butt. Cable is a no-brainer to set up. DSL modems with built-in routers and firewalls are a royal pain. And a big thanks to SBC-Yahoo DSL for chasing all the plain vanilla DSL (read: simple) modems out of the stores. DSL will justifiably become extinct because it is such a pain. Good riddance.
 Chicago – Great city. So many really good restaurants all within walking distance of the river.
 Chicago – Is there ever a moment when you don’t hear sirens? They need to rename the place The Siren City.
 Verizon Wireless Data – Who needs the $10/day hotel wireless? Just hook the Verizon phone to the laptop and surf away. This post brought to you by Verizon Wireless.
 Boston Celtics – I’m not a big (or even small) basketball fan, but I did see the Celts kick royal butt tonight. Maybe they will have a great season. Is a championship in three major sports too much to ask in one year?
Thu 1 Nov 2007
Posted by markj under
Cars ,
Stuff1 Comment
I’ve often heard it said that dreams are best left to remain dreams. Your imagination is always perfect. Real life is less so. You may dream of climbing the Alps, but when you start sucking air at 12,000 feet and your feet are screaming in pain from the blisters, you wonder why you ever dreamed of doing this. You may dream of free falling from 20,000 feet, but when the moment of truth at the door of the plane arrives…well, you get the idea.
I once owned a gorgeous BMW 633 CSi just like this one. From the moment I saw it on a used car lot in Germany, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. All good sense left me and I convinced myself this was the car for me. It was a pure joy to drive, but it was a lemon. In the 5 years or so I owned it, I probably sunk as much into it as I paid for it originally.
As I approach my 50th birthday, I’ve decided I deserve another car for pure fun. Not something to slog back and forth to work in, but something to get the blood pumping and the heart rate elevated. Something to enjoy for its looks as much as its performance. It’s an old cliche that middle aged men in sports cars are just going through a phase wishing they were younger, but the truth is, it’s the first time in their lives they can actually afford a car they’ve always wanted. The kids are gone, the bills are paid, and there is disposable income to be had. In my case there never were kids, but the rest applies. I can finally afford to indulge my love of fine automobiles. But what to get? That is the question.
I stumbled across this stunning example of one of my favorite cars of any era. It’s a 1987 BMW M6. It’s the muscle car equivalent of my earlier 633.
It is the precise car of my dreams, right down to the color combination. This particular car has low mileage, is supposedly flawless and well maintained, and is priced accordingly. Still, I could afford it. But ( and there’s always a “but”), could I drive it? Look at the perfect paint. I’d be horrified if it got hit by a rock thrown up by a truck. My dear departed 7-Series had dozens of rock chips on the hood. Out here in corn country, they still pave roads like Fred Flintstone did, with oil and gravel. They patch the highways with pea-stone. They salt the road with chunks the size of billiard balls. Rock chips are a certainty. So I fear this car, should it become mine, would sit shiny and flawless in my garage like a prized work of art. (Which is exactly why it is flawless and has such low mileage.) Not exactly how my dream goes. Reality always trumps the dream.