Looking at the half-empty glass of arsenic

#writers channel on the IRC...

JoBear keeps looking in the various papers for light, fluffy brainless news... and keeps tripping over wahr coverage
EvilWench tells jo to read the paper nekkid
EvilWench: that should help
EvilWench: *nod*
Kaliuna: Jo-- ahh try weather - or medical area --
hermit agrees with wenchi
JoBear: Umm.... Medical = SARS, Weather = Killer Tornadoes in Florida.. *sigh*
EvilWench: jo!
EvilWench: you are readin the wrong paper
hermit: tornadoes in florida?
EvilWench: you are supposed to be readin Weekly World News
EvilWench: :)
JoBear: Oh!
EvilWench: ummmm but read it nekkid
scriibe thinks Jo looks at the arsenic bottle as being half empty ;-)
EvilWench: ROFLMAO scriibe
JoBear grinz at scriibes' snark :-D

Its Allergy Season Again. Again.

*blarggg*

I woke up early with an itchy upper sinus palate. A bit stuffed.

"Hmm", I thought - "I should fix that with some tea and lemon."

I shoulda known.

I took a walk in the glorious Autumn sunshine of Berkeley, pondering if I should take a jacket in the surprisingly suddenly mild air.

*SNEEEEEEEEZZZE*

It aint spring until the Oak trees come alive, no matter the winter flower blooms.

And with the spring comes.... *gah* - allergies.

Ive been lucky here.

This is the first day since.. ever, I felt foolish walking around with a jacket on.

Hey, they dont call it Brrrrrkeley for nuthin.

Anyone near a WalMart? Swing me some WalMart brand antihistamine? No, not the green ones, the blue ones.

Thanx.

Warcoverage

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Start













Few days later







Yesterday














Today























Hokay.. so for something completely different

Grumpy Old Techs


I was getting a fair amount of grief for being grumpy toward some of the folk here.

I tried to explain that I have good reason for being that way to people asking for tech support, but my reasoning didnt seem to jibe to their understanding.

If I make my living fixing computers, why alienate the very people who need me?

Ive come to realize, the only people who understand why I do this are the ones who have to go through the soul-numbing experience - so I dialled up Clint on IM to give an answer to this person...

To corroborate, rather.


JPennant: Hey Clint
McClint: yo joe
JPennant: Im gonna ask you this question
McClint: i'm gonna answer the best i can
McClint: answer: 42
JPennant: when people ask you for computer help, do you come off intially as cranky?
JPennant: or grumpy
McClint: sometimes yeah
McClint: depends on who it is

JPennant: why do you think that is

McClint: ummm if someone approaches me to help them and I just know i'm gonna be sucked into a black hole of perpetual support for free (or almost free), then yeah i try to be as grumpy as possible
McClint: that way they will be less likely to want to pull me in again
JPennant: thank you.. this was for someone who wondered why I was being so cranky about this
McClint: i did that with my Dad and his wife. she was hellbent on getting on the internet but i knew for a fact she didn't know how to turn the damn thing on. i was gonna be asked on a daily basis to help them with every little thing
JPennant: keep goin
McClint: I was bitchy and cranky and told them flat out "i will not be here to teach you how to use this thing. I will not be here every other day to fix something you broke. Go to the store NOW and buy books telling you how to operate windows and to explain what the internet is because *I* will not do it"
McClint: and i made sure i was firm about that too so they would get the picture. and it worked.
McClint: they didn't even call me when they downloaded a dozen viruses in email and their system wouldnt even startup :-)
McClint: because they knew I'd be saying "I told ya so" throughout the whole time i worked on it
McClint: Nick Burns, your company's Computer Guy is our idol :-)
JPennant: LoL

JPennant: Thank you. I think he kinda gets it now. He saw me abusing his friends and wondered why I was doin that :-=)
McClint: ahh the uninitiated. it is fun to make fun of them behind their backs
JPennant: heheheh
McClint: but that's our little secret :-)
JPennant: LoL
---

Chat Clips

Today....

Chooper: hiya jo jo
JPennant: hey carol
Chooper: im in NY for a bit
Chooper: its strange being back in NY
Chooper: but i have to say i miss it much
JPennant: how so? you in your place?
Chooper: yep im in my apt
Chooper: there is a new deal on the table now
Chooper: they want me to go back to the UK as an extended business trip till sept
Chooper: unfortunately i cant seem to find anyone i trust to sublet my apt and watch my cat
JPennant: Im not coming to NY to watch your cat :-)
Chooper: heheheh


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JPennant: Just Be.
JPennant: Wow.. I love that a universe of wisdom is contained in a small statement.
JPennant: Zen is cool. ;-)
julez: hehehehehehehe

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k a t e: howdy doody
JPennant: heyy Katedragonwahine
JPennant: que pasa
k a t e: so so - feeling a little under the weather
JPennant: aww
JPennant: garlic!
JPennant: slice of pizza, extry garlic!
k a t e: just sat in the steam room- hoping to make me feel better
JPennant: yeah...
JPennant: garlic!
JPennant: :-D
JPennant: I am soooo cooking with garlic nowadays
JPennant: once I learned the secret of cooking with them
JPennant: you DONT need a garlic crusher or peeler
JPennant: a cutting board and smshing them with the heel of your palm, allowing you to take the skin off the cloves
JPennant: and garlic makes you feel STRONG
k a t e: :-)
JPennant: Strong like bull!
k a t e: ;-)
JPennant: Heheh
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JPennant: reading the archives of http://dear_raed.blogspot.com

JPennant: My day/night cycle is totally screwed up because of Ramadan. What is supposed to be lunch doesn't take place until 5pm and everybody avoids work until after Iftar. And then stays up really late watching Egyptian soap-operas. Evil_Boss_Creature doesn't understand the necessity of watching [al-attar and his seven daughters] followed by [dharma and greg] at 2am daily.
JPennant: <-- cracking up
JPennant: Lately they have decided to change 'animal planet' to 'paramount comedy channel'. Now we watch Seinfeld and Dharma&greg. But Mr. Channel Zapper hates Jay Leno because at 10pm they change the channel to TCM (they even do the channel surfing for you, do they love us or what?).
george: Oy.
JPennant: So surreal
JPennant: Iraq's website was made by Microsoft Frontpage 5.0
george: Heh heh.
JPennant: <--cue jokes as to how Microsoft is bringing down the Iraq regime
george: From one evil empire to another.
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A Day in The Life

Berkeley

9am

Coffee with George and Joe at the Au Coquelet coffee joint at University and Milvia Avenues












Looking up University Avenue into the Berkeley Hills.



Cody's Books, Telegraph Avenue































































































































(This picture just happened to be #9999... no, it just turned out that way.)







Again, I usually ask permission and/or show them the pictures...









This lady..



.. introduced me to this lady.. who turns out to be another August 29'er.

Dude, we bonded.









This man is a master metalsmith..







And just when you think people are normal here..








And just standing on the corner...

























Then down Bancroft Avenue











In Berkeley, there is no love for parking meters. None.









But it was getting dark, cold and rainy...






















The warmth and the lights beckoned me...