After telling Erhan about using Spybot - Search & Destroy to remove spyware/adware from my neighbor's computer (she had five such processes running and thus was very low on memory), he suggested using Ad-Aware. So I tried that on my computer and it removed 420 objects (mostly cookies). Then I tried Spybot and it removed 41 more (mostly cookies).
People put so much effort into making spyware/adware and then other people put so much effort into removing it. It's like telemarketing and the new National Do Not Call Registry. It's also like the tax system. I guess the old saying is true: "people are weird."
My dead battery kept me from driving to hot and sweaty racquetball. Maybe the heat killed it. I hope to get that replaced tomorrow (Saturday) when the weather will be milder. I guess the old saying is true: "it's always something."
My neighbor's Rottweiler is a little over a year old and has been having problems inlcuding a misshaped leg and a general lethargy of unknow origin. He's been having a lot of tests. My neighbor found out he came from a puppy mill rather than a reputable kennel. (She bought him at a pet store.) My younger sister had a similar experience with a Labrador. I guess the old saying is true: "know your breeder."
That Tootsie Pop lasted about 4 hours after I spied it.
Now this is a pizza.
I sent a job application today. That's two applications inside of two weeks. Both to colleges in states with names having three vowels.
I might also consider states that have names with four vowels. I am flexible.
I've been off chocolate for a week but just now spotted a Tootsie Pop (from my mom). I wonder how long that sucker will last.
Last year in the US there were 42,850 traffic fatalities and 4,019,280 births. That's a ratio of about 1:94. Crazy.
Cormorant in the Melville Mill Pond, Setauket, NY
We've now had two consecutive days without rain in this record-setting month of rain....and the people across the street watered their lawn. Wacky.
I was listening to talk radio driving back from hot and sweaty racquetball. The caller was upset that at mass for Father's Day he received a little statue of Jesus that looks like a rock star, due to the hair and face. He said it doesn't look like Jesus. The host told him that nobody knows what Jesus looked like. That was the end of the call.
I mentioned the racquetball. It was hot and sweaty. One advantage of having three people for a two-person game is that one person can rest while the other two play. Today we were two.
Then I had a big salad without lettuce.
Foundation is quite good, as people say. You know a book is good when you forget that you are reading. With Wigfield I didn't forget.
Monday, Bill asked if I wanted a free ticket for his performance as part of the NYC Gay Men's Chorus on Wednesday. Of course, I said yes.
I caught the 4:05 pm LIRR train at Port Jefferson. My previous trips had all been on the Ronkonkoma train so this was my first time on a double-decker train. The seats are more comfortable and the ride is smoother.
I arrived at Penn Station a little after 6 and then walked the 24+ blocks to Carnegie Hall. Highlights of the walk included a visit to the Toy R Us and talking to a woman outside of the Ed Sullivan Theatre giving away tickets for Thursdays Late Show with David Letterman. Not wanting to return the next day, I declined. Sigh.
Bill had his friends Cheri and Michael meet me in the lobby. We climbed up to the fifth level and enjoyed the performance.
Afterwards, we met Bill outside. Cheri and Michael went home as they get up early for work.
Bill and I took the A train to 14th Street. He showed me a bit of Chelsea and Greenwich Village before going to the after party at XL. That's where I had the previously mentioned Kamikaze which preceded me posing for a photo next to the aquarium. Hmmm.
Afterwards Bill rode with me back to Penn Station where I arrived with 5 minutes to spare for the 1:44 am train back to Port Jefferson. The next train leaves at 5:47.
I dozed a bit on the ride back.
Cheri, Michael and Iwent to Carnegie Hall to see our friend Bill.
Later I had my first kamikaze outside of Lewisburg, PA.
I just got back to my apartment. More later. I am tired.
Here's a sign from my laundry.
That small writing at the bottom of the middle part says, "MUST BE DOING LAUNDRY TO ATTEND!"
I never go there at night.
It's always fun to play a game of racquetball with someone really good. A guy visited today and just schooled me.
"Raise your game," as one of my friends would often say back when I was playing poker.
About 1/3 of the way in I've given up on Wigfield. It has it's funny moments but the premise doesn't hold up.
Next I'll try Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
I learned how to make animated GIFs using the GIMP (in Linux).
This one shows people out for the evening in Port Jefferson.
This one shows the harbor. The dark image is the original photo. The brighter one is the same image enhanced by color equalization.
I got this pizza today. It wasn't what I expected. It's square. For some reason square is not as good as round.
It's called a Sicilian pizza. Sicilian means square. Now I "know."
Instead of a PCI modem, now I think I'll get a PCMIA card for my laptop and get a crossover cable to connect my two computers. Then I can dialup up with my laptop and share the internet connection with my Linux machine. Heh.
Heh heh heh.
Today I freed the frog that was living in my window well.
The moral of the story is that the frog couldn't change his circumstances but we can change ours.
Wait. The moral of the story is that change may be difficult but it's worth it in the end.
Maybe that's too deep. The real lesson is to make sure that animals don't die in your window wells.
Good luck, frog. I'm glad you aren't a racoon.
Looking to get
new Grey AM CD "Breathe on Your Own Time"
PCI modem
cross-cut paper shredder
Today I picked up Wigfield from my local library. It is by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert.
Jon Stewart's review:
To me, Wigfield is a deeply funny, refreshingly original book, but to be fair, it is the first book I've ever read.
British astrophysicist Martin Rees gives a 50-50 chance for a severe setback to civilization during this century. The biggest threats are due to humans, in particular scientists.
I will continue recycling.
Here's what I made for dinner.
pasta sauce
water
salsa
lentils
crushed tomatoes
whole wheat pasta shells
chopped green chilies
chili powder
chopped garlic
green peas
chopped spinach
black beans
At my library 13 people have a hold request for the Hillary Clinton book that comes out tomorrow and 63 have a hold request for the Harry Potter book that will be out in two weeks.
Back in the day, The Prisoner Request Show on on WVBU played a lot of Metallica because, as you might guess, many prisoners requested their songs. I'm not a big Metallica fan but now when I hear their songs after not hearing them very often, I enjoy them and appreciate some of their greatness.
I heard on the radio today that all Long Islanders should have a three-day supply of food and water in case of a hurricane.
I am not quite prepared.
Today I learned that prions are thought to cause chronic wasting disease in deer and mad cow disease. A prion (rhymes with "neon") is a bit of protein. Prions are present in all of us. When they shift to an abnormal formation they cause brain lesions. Bad prions can make other prions go bad. Bad prions can jump to similar species.
There are many ways that bad things can happen--and bad things will happen--so celebrate what is good.
In conclusion, if given the chance to eat monkey brain, I will decline.
Congratulations, graduates!
My mom sent me a bag of homemade granola. EXcellent.
It has oatmeal, raisins, coconut and nuts!
Planters Deluxe Mixed Nuts: cashews, almonds, brazils, hazelnuts (filberts), pecans, peanuts oil salt.
They're all tasty, especially the pecans.
Nuts are fine.
Everything is connected.
Some of the pieces at the Matisse Picasso exhibition were from the Hermitage Museum so today I tuned to PBS for a program featuring works in the Hermitage.
I turns out that the Impressionists understood that we don't know what reality is, we only know what we perceive to be reality.
This same idea is discussed in the Great Mambo Chicken book. So if your brain is computerized, you can experience a richer reality through the use of appropriate sensors.
By the way, there's a lot of art.
Have you ever seen "Animal Cops" and "Animal Precinct"? The former is taped Detroit and the latter in New York. They both show animal control officers rescuing abused animals and confronting the abusers.
It's Good vs. Evil. You can feel good when Good prevails.
Life is like this. So are The Chronicles of Narnia.
