babbling blue

I’ve been delinquent in updating my blog lately, but the holidays are so hectic. Anyway, here is a quick update:

• Went home to Green Bay for Christmas, saw some of the family. It was good.
• I still hate the CTA, and they have still been fucking up. I just haven’t taken the time to write an entry on it.
• I saw Mamma Mia last week, for the third time. It had been awhile and I forgot how much lovely eye candy was in it! Plus it’s just a fun show.
• RIP James Brown and Gerald Ford
• I leave Friday for St. Thomas, USVI for 8 days of fun in the sun! Woo hoo!

Belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and umm. . . Joyous Festivus to all. And early Happy New Year too.

<3 Josh

CTA. The Chicago Transit Authority. “Hate” is not a strong enough word.

I loathe, detest, despise and abhor you. Fuck you, CTA, with a broken beer bottle. My time is too valuable to waste waiting for your perpetually late and overcrowded trains and buses. You have the collective organizational skills of a kindergartener and your people have the customer service aptitude of a South American dictator.

This morning was my 7th commute of the week, and the 4th that was delayed by more than a few minutes; the longest was over an hour! Today I had to wait 22 minutes for a train during morning rush hour. This was at a time when the trains, according to the CTA, run “every 5 minutes or less”. Of course the train was already crowded, and the driver tried to assure everyone there were “2 or 3 trains” following us, so people should just wait if they couldn’t get on. At that point most people were probably thinking what I was thinking: “I’m getting on that fucking train!” And I did. (And I did so without pushing and shoving; my fellow passengers were in the same situation as I, and the delay was certainly not their fault.)

Someone (I forget who) once remarked, “Rush hour seems to catch the CTA by surprise every day.” I think of that often, because it seems so true. Incompetence reigns supreme there.

I detest the CTA with such vehemence, that I have declared them my arch-nemesis and created a new subcategory on this blog just for them. If nothing else, the venting is good for my blood pressure. I try very hard not to get angry at transit delays, because it doesn’t accomplish anything. But goddamn, it’s so fucking hard not to. So this is part of my self-imposed therapy.

In conclusion: CTA, you are steaming pile of parasite-infested shit. That is all.

According to my blog (who knew it would turn out to be a reference source?) the first snow of the 2005-2006 winter was on November 16th, 2005. The first snow this “winter” (2006-2007) was October 12th, 2006, but it was really just flurries. The first real snow of the season seems to be bearing down on us right now, with up to 10 inches (ooh!) predicted by noon tomorrow. While I wasn’t happy with the snow on October 12th (it shouldn’t snow in October, dammit!) I am kind of excited this time.

Let it snow!

Just two short days after the world was rocked by word of the Britney/K-Fed breakup there is even more big news for us.

First, Reese Witherspoon has filed for divorce from Ryan Phillippe. The filing cites the usual “irreconcilable differences”. Their separation was announced a couple weeks ago, so this isn’t a huge shocker. But I’m sure there were people assuming they’d work it out. Looks like it wasn’t meant to be. Ryan, if you need to be comforted don’t hesitate to call me!

Second–and this one did surprise me–Apple is breaking it off with the Mac Guy. You know, the one from the “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC.” commercials. It seems that the PC Guy is sticking around though. The Mac Guy (whose real name is Justin Long) is now out of a job. Poor guy. I’m sure I can find an opening for him.

What other celebrity breakups are on the way?

I haven’t been doing many politically-themed blog posts lately, but that doesn’t mean I stopped caring or paying attention. Quite the contrary. But political posts take a lot of thought and effort, and it’s difficult to make them entertaining. Also, more often than not they just make me angry and depressed. But it’s time to cease the semi-silence!

As most everyone in the U.S. knows, there was an election yesterday. Despite being merely a midterm (which means midway through a presidential term, by the way), it was a huge election. Control of the House and Senate were both up for grabs. I’m happy to report that as of this hour, the Democrats seem to have won full control of the house, picking up at least 28 seats. . . many more than they needed. Unfortunately the Senate is not yet decided, but the two races that are still too close to call (Montana and Virginia) are both currently lead by the Democratic candidate. It looks promising, but I don’t want to get too confident yet; the lead in Montana is less than 2,000 votes.

All in all, this was a very satisfying election for us liberals in America. I kind of hoped that given how much the Republicans have been screwing up lately that our Senate victory would be more resounding. But then again most of the antics seemed to involve the House more than the Senate.

Some disappointments:

• Joe Lieberman won as an independent in Connecticut. He’s such a smarmy bastard! I don’t trust him.
• Tammy Duckworth lost in the Illinois 6th district (House). Duckworth is a Democrat that lost both of her legs serving in the Iraq war. She couldn’t be touched on Iraq (no one would dare accuse her of wanting to “cut and run”) but the attacks against her focused on immigration issues. Unfortunately it looks like the race baiting was effective in the end.
• A number of anti-gay marriage ballot measures passed. This includes Idaho, Colorado, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin (my home state, though after this betrayal I may refer to it as my “state of origin”). In fact the only same sex marriage ban that seems to have failed was in Arizona, but it’s too close to say for sure. The lovely state of Colorado hit us with a one-two punch, not only banning same sex marriage but defeating a measure to allow domestic partnership. To the all these states, and particularly CO, I say “Fuck You”.

Finally, if you didn’t see Comedy Central’s “Midterm Midtacular” last night (a joint “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report”), you really missed out on the hilarity. I’m sure you’ll be able to find the highlights on YouTube before too long. Otherwise it is available on iTunes (and it’s almost worth paying for).

Today is a big day!

This is the news:

Britney Spears filed for divorced Tuesday from Kevin Federline, officials said. The Los Angeles County Superior Court filing cites “irreconcilable differences,” said court spokeswoman Kathy Roberts.

Britney is getting a divorce! At least, until she changes her mind and decides to try to work things out.

Oh, it’s also election day. You should probably go vote. Unless you’re in a situation like me in which there isn’t anything worth voting for, except possibly the governorship. But that’s an impossible choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Also, I would have had to get up early and vote before work. No thanks.

The MPAA—which I will stop short of calling a terrorist organization, because that’s completely inappropriate—has partnered with the Los Angeles Area Boy Scouts to create a new merit badge.

Now merit badges are available for a variety of areas, including First Aid, Forestry, Art, Music, Reading, Hiking, Electricity, etc. And what’s this new one? Why, it’s in Respecting Copyrights, of course. After reading some . . .ummm. . . information provided by the MPAA and doing a presentation (for example “Research peer to peer websites—describe to your troop what they are and how they are sometimes used to illegally trade copyrighted materials”) a Scout earns a merit badge in Respecting Copyrights.

Not just Copyrights, but Respecting Copyrights. The curriculum neglects issues such as fair use, the public domain and the limited durations of copyrights. I guess the idea is to get kids while they are young and susceptible to indoctrination learning.

(story)

I went to pay my Comcast bill online, before it was late. Yeah, I usually pay that one late. Hey, it’s not my fault. . . their site doesn’t want to work with my bill pay service. Anyway, I was going to pay my bill online (approximately one arm and one leg, but the leg portion is just up to the knee, so it’s not so bad) and it seems they have a spiffy (or something) new site. And there was this image there on the login screen:

As you can see, it is a woman lying under a desk with a computer on it, apparently trying to plug something in or–more likely–trying to figure out why her Comcast internet connection isn’t working. What’s the problem? The desk seems to be nothing more than a big slab of glass supported by two precarious piles of books. I don’t know about you, but when I lie under a slab of glass I prefer it to be supported by something a little more structurally sound. It looks like her butt is just a couple inches away from knocking the whole mess down.

I wonder how Comcast’s E-Support is going to help her with that.

The date is October 12th, and it’s snowing.