Dichotomy...

The Contour is now effectively my car. Everything but the title, but that will be coming along after my dad gets home to sign it over. I got my stereo installed tonight and I've swapped over all the maps, loose change, etc, my sunglasses and the super cool sunglasses holder Emily gave me, the garage door opener, sun shield, radar detector mount, etc etc. My mom was saying it's kind of poignant to be giving up my old car again. I dunno. My first car was a lot harder to part with because it was the first car that really was mine, that I could personalize and that only I ever drove. This car was much the same, but it was the second time around. I took good care of it and put a lot of sweat (and occasionally blood) into it, but that's what you should do with a car that you want to keep running. But now I have a new car to sweat and bleed on, one with a manual transmission no less. Yay! Now to wedge a Mustang engine under the hood, upgrade the suspension, and put some drag radials on it. Yeah. Right.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

Just finished Song of Susannah. 15 days after I bought it. I didn't mean to finish it tonight, but I couldn't stop reading. The Dark Tower series has pulled in things from so many of King's other books that as a Constant Reader, I'm so engrossed by the one-ness of his writing that I can't make myself close the cover. As I told Emily in an email earlier today, when I was reading last night suddenly I had this "a-ha!" moment (my exact barely uttered words were "oh shit...") where all of a sudden all the various references fell into place. It was when Eddie asked Stephen King (yes, the author is a character in his own novel, a rather important, yet periphery, one at that) who Gloria y Inez Bachman was and he laughed and replied that it was Richard Bachman's (King's pseudonym) equally imaginary wife, only her name was lacking the y. The y of course was added to the author's name on Charlie the Choo-Choo to make 19 a name of nineteen characters. When I read that she was Richard Bachman's wife everything suddenly clicked, like someone turned on a lightswtich, and it was like suddenly I was seeing the world for the first time and everything was so clear. It was sort of a bizarre experience. I'm so entranced by the Dark Tower story that I'm even having scarily vivid dreams about it. Now I just have to wait until September for the 7th and final volume, afterwhich King claims that he plans to retire. I would too after having finally finished a 3000+ page story I started 30 years ago.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 3:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

This calls for a huzzah: In one day in Fairfax, I installed a light fixture, taught Ben to drive a stick shift, got a job interview at General Dynamics (via Salvador), got an appointment to see Mr. Casipit to get the ball rolling on being a teacher, and went grocery shopping, and it's not even dinner time yet! Huzzah! That's more in the past 4.5 hours (I woke up at 12:30) than I've accomplished in Atlanta all summer, as depressing as that is...

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

Got up at 6 am this morning to go sit at Main Street Shell to get the emissions and safety inspections done on my car. It passed both, so it can officially be reregistered in Virginia now, just in time for me to not drive it anymore, but I guess my parents still need it, so that's good. Since it's now going on 8 am, I'm going to make myself an omlette, read the paper, and then go back to bed, even though I was out cold by midnight last night.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

My 4-word review of Fahrenheit 9/11: Fuck the Bush administration.

I don't really want to get into it much more here because there's just too much I want to say. If you've seen the movie and want to discuss it, I'd be happy to. Suffice it to say that I was anti-Bush before I saw the movie (along with I suspect everyone else in the packed theatre). Yes, I know Michael Moore intentionally takes things out of context, yes, I know there's a lot of speculation, yes, I know he plays on other people emotions. That doesn't change the fact that I don't think we belong in Iraq, that we had no business going into Afghanistan with such a limited ground force, and that 4 more years of Bush is the most terrifying thing I can imagine, terrifying enough for me to investigate how hard it would be to become a Canadian citizen or have myself classified as munitions should the need arise.

My Recommendation: Go see this film, even if you're a heartless Republican who eats babies. *cough* Brian *cough cough* ;) If you don't like the idea of giving Michael Moore any more money, sneak in or steal someone else's ticket, but go see the movie.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

Nothing says "I have no social life" like going to bed at midnight on a Friday night. In all fairness however, Michelle did invite me to go to Six Flags tomorrow, but since I am driving up to DC, I had to pass. 12:00 am, lights out!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

The new Age of Ruin record: dude. Why are they so good? Why couldn't I have joined the band in high school? They were even looking for a bass player back then. And their stand-in for a while was even from Woodson. *sigh* At least I have a fantastic new album to cheer me up. :) The Tides of Tragedy makes me salivate every time I pop it in the cd player. Dead serious.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

Chrono Cross is as good as the last time I played it (sophomore year of college). The graphics are a little dated, but the gameplay value is timeless. And the part when you become Lynx mid-way through the game left me as confused and disoriented as it did last time. That's quality video game making right there. Go Square!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

Clue in today's crossword puzzle: Olds of old
Answer: Ciera

Oh come on! Are you kidding me? I used to drive an '87 Ciera! That car would only be 17 years old if I still had it (and if the roof hadn't finished rusted through or the engine hadn't caught fire, again). It's not like the Eighty Eight name is any younger. It just used to be Delta 88 instead of the classier Eighty Eight Royale. Fortunately, by this time next week, I should be driving a 1996 Contour instead of either Olds I've owned before.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'll be in Fairfax the night of June 26 - July 5 (possibly longer). I'm headed up to talk to Mr. Casipit (so far so good), maybe my old boss at Electrotek, and hopefully this VP at MAR, Inc. Also, my dad returns from Afghanistan (hopefully) on July 1 for good. Well, at least for a little while before he and my mom move to Tel Aviv. Out of the frying pan into the fire, right? In a way at least. I don't think Tel Aviv is quite as dangerous as Kabul, and at least my parents will be together. Anyway, heads up to all the Fairfax kids, I'll be in town next week, at least until Emily comes home on the 5th.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Who got gas for $1.67 today? That's right. Me! Eat it everyone else who's still paying more than 2 bucks for gas!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

According to the June issue of IEEE Spectrum, Fairfax County (and/or Virginia) is known as Silicon Dominion, Silicon Plantaion, and Silicon Seaboard. Having spent a substantial portion of my life in Fairfax, I have never heard any of these terms before. I lived there during the huge technology build-up near Dulles and along the I- 270 corridor. And it's not like I'm totally out of the loop on this kind of thing either. But, much to my surprise, Google yields a large number of hits for each term. Learn something new every day.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

Interesting article from Brian. The great thign about patents is that you don't have to prove that the idea will work or that it's not dangerous, only that you had the idea. In this particular case, I see all sorts of people being electrocuted or getting their brains rewired "accidentally" by Micro$oft.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

So I almost had good news today. I had a phone interview with a company based in Springfield, VA. It was going pretty well and it seemed like I had all the skills needed for the job and it actually involved some design work, not just lab testing/technician stuff. So I tried not to get my hopes up, especially after the HR guy said that I would need a security clearance. I should be able to get one, so that's not a big deal, but there's always a catch. He asks me if I would relocate. Assuming he meant from GA to VA, I say sure. After all the technical stuff is out of the way, we get into base pay. I'd be making about 40K to start until my clearance comes through. Then he said it could easily jump to 60K-100K because of the projects I'd be working on. Hot damn! Ready for the catch? After some initial training in Springfield, when my clearance comes through, I'd have to relocate to IRAQ!!! I'm trying not to be too picky about job location, but I'm sure as hell not moving to Iraq. This is what happens when I get my hopes up about a job... I wish he'd told me up front about the Iraq thing, because as it was, I feel like I just wasted 20 minutes of my life on a job possibility that no amount of money could convince me to take.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments

Someone totally ripped off my idea!!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 3:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

Today I liberated my Playstation from storage, so I'm all set to tear into Chrono Cross again. Yay! I also swung by my old apartment to drop off a check for our final water bill and I figured since I was in the area, I'd drop by Best Buy as well. Sadly, they didn't have the new Mega Man collection because I'm dumb and tomorrow's the 22nd, not today. I did have an experience though. I was walking through the CD aisle and there was a guy looking through some CDs about 10 feet ahead of me. So I started to walk around behind him and he turns around right as I get there so I end up walking in front of him. I turn the corner and see the Throwdown CD I've been searching for, so I go to pick it up and this guy gets all in my face about how you should say "excuse me" when you walk in front of someone. For being so concerned about manners, he seemed to have no qualms about being so pugnacious and practically spitting in my face. I realized explaining that it was an accident that he turned around as I was walking behind him would have accomplished nothing except extending the amount of time I had to put up with this guy, and possibly provoked an all-out brawl, so I just apologized. The guy then turns around and smacks right into this poor girl who's looking at a Britney Spears CD. Doesn't apologize for running into her, just keeps on going. What the hell?? Some people are retarded. Like anyone driving an automobile when it starts raining here. Using extra caution does not mean driving 30 mph in the left lane when it's drizzling. It means leaving an extra car length or two between you and the next car and not swerving in and out of your lane like a maniac. They really need to make driver's licenses harder to get and require a lot more training. Anyway, I also changed my oil today (it's nice to have a garage for a change) and left a message for Mr. Casipit.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

In my 5 years of college, I never had a nightmare about forgetting a paper or an exam or missing a deadline or whatever. But last night, the first night in 2 weeks that I went to bed before 1 AM and slept 8+ hours straight, I had a nightmare about not only showing up to class wearing only my boxers, but having left the term paper that was due at home and having forgotten that we had a major exam that day. How weird is that?

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

Yay for going to bed at midnight! Yay for going straight to sleep! Boo for waking up at 5 am! Yay for talking to Emily online at 5 am! Yay for good timing! Boo for being wide awake now! Yay for reading Stephen King until I go back to sleep!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

The Bezos/Creekman wedding was so nice even if it was in Nowhere, GA. The fairly brief ceremony was in a pretty little Presbyterian church and the reception was in an old Civil War-era Georgian house with a great yard. I missed the turn for it at first and we drove by a little park with a huge fountain that looked really nice too. Turns out it was Lafayette Park! Anyway, Kevin unfortunately couldn't make it because America West are a bunch of idiots, so don't fly on their airline. But Ivan Ludmer (long-term relationship married), Doug Ericson (engaged), Jeff Stanley (engaged), Aaron Windecker (Wiiiiiiiindex!!), and Jeff Bergman all came down for Sal, and a few other vaguely familiar people from Woodson came down for Jenny, including fellow Woodson/GT alum Chu Chun. And for once I wasn't the bachelor at a reunion of high school friends which made the garter toss more interesting. Both my parents and Emily's parents will be pleased to learn that although I tried my damnedest, I couldn't quite catch the garter though. I got Casipit's (my engineering teacher from high school) contact info from Chu Chun because apparently FCPS is desperate for people with technical backgrounds to teach technology classes, so I'm going to call him and see what's up. Finally, I met Cousin Jeff today!!! Very down to earth, nicest guy on the planet, not at all pretentious about his hugely successful business. I want to be him when I'm 40. Well, him and Henry Rollins. Can I do both somehow? Maybe I should just stick to being me, it seems to be working out pretty well the last 10 months or so.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

I've decided that I suffer from the sleeping disorder known as Cantturnoffmybraininbeditis. If I'm up watching TV or reading or playing video games and I start getting really drowsy, I crawl into bed before I pass out on the couch. And exactly 2 seconds later, instead of falling asleep, my brain starts racing a mile a minute. This makes falling asleep quite difficult and no matter how hard I try or not try, I can't make myself stop thinking. I've tried listening to music, not listening to music (classical, metal, punk, jazz), computer on, computer off, lights off, colored lights on, tv on, tv off. I dunno. There's something wrong with the combination of my bed and my brain that they can't seem to peacefully coexist. Maybe I'll bust out my sleeping bag and spend a few nights on my fouton to see if that helps matters.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

There's nothing funnier than aging punkers who know they're too old to be playing west coast pop punk but are having too much fun to quit. Lagwagon, taking a page from NOFX's playbook, recorded Falling Apart for their Blaze record (released April 2003):

Hello, welcome to the show
Thought we broke up years ago
What's up, I just shit my pants
Gambled and I lost
Good times, just blew out my knee
I've fallen and I can't get up
Oh shit, I think I broke my back
Where's the wheelchair?
I'm old school
I'm played out
Osteoporosis, glaucoma and neurosis
The vultures circling above our balding heads

Second verse, the same as the first
I forgot the words again
Railer, lost my inhaler
Who's got a smoke for the Caper?
Hold on let me catch my breath
*guitar solo*
All right, I feel better now
Take it to the bridge

I'll never be Ozzy
On stage when I'm fifty
I'm gonna look like Elvis
By the time I'm forty
We're already bogus
We're already fading
We'll never be The Rolling Stones
I'm staying home

Dementia and senility
My failing muscles atrophy
I've lost all ability
Falling apart
Blue hair, brown teeth
Failing livers, defeat
Maybe we will try to pull it off
For another year

Sadly, Lagwagon will not be appearing on Warped this summer, neither will Me First, so who knows what blue-haired Joey Cape and the gang will be up to back in Santa Barbara... For your listening pleasure however, Warped is still bringing you a bunch of other aging west coast musicians: NOFX, Bad Religion, Lars and the Bastards, The Vandals, and Pulley. And for your non-geriatric listening pleasure, you should check out the following if they happen to be playing your town: The Aquabats, Avenged Sevenfold, The Bouncing Souls, Boys Night Out, Don't Look Down, 18 Visions, Flogging Molly, From Autumn to Ashes, TiNC, Yellowcard, Tiger Army, Stretch Arm Strong, Over It, Nor Am I, Staring Back, Nuclear Saturday, Amity, Age of Ruin, and Fly By Night. That is all.
I also have to get a little fanboyish right now because I gotta say that San Francisco will always hold a special place in my musical heart. It's where I met Ray Cappo (albeit with Shelter instead of the vastly superior Youth of Today) and Jason Sears. Jason showed up and dragged both Chris Rest and Flippin on stage to perform some RKL songs! *drool* Members of Youth of Today, RKL, Lagwagon, and all of Shelter were on my stage in San Francisco. Tampa, Atlanta, and Charlotte are special too, cause I met Shai Hulud for the first time in Atlanta, they played on our stage in Tampa, and Stretch Arm Strong tore Charlotte apart. Can you tell that I wish I was going on Warped Tour again this summer? It's just not something I can do again without being paid for it. Too much back strain, lack of sleep, stress, and late night driving without compensation. Fun as hell though.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Comments

Life update: My uncle Bob met the Senior VP/Director of Engineering at MAR the other day. It's an engineering consulting firm in Rockville, MD that apparently does a lot of acoustical work and the guy apparently is well acquainted with GT's engineering program. So I sent him my resume today and we'll see what comes out of that. Emily called me today (yay!!). I hadn't really heard from her for a while, so it was nice to her her voice again. She seems a little homesick, but I think she's having a great time (except for a short Irish snafu), and I think she'll be happy to be home in a couple weeks. Salvador Bezos (distant cousin of Jeff "Amazon.com" Bezos) is getting married to Jenny Creekman tomorrow in the middle of nowhere, GA. Kevin misinformed me that it was in Marietta (suburb of Atlanta), but instead it's within walking distance of Alabama. *shrug* Should still be a fun time so I'm planning to go. Hopefully Kevin will be able to get another flight out from Santa Barbara to he can make it too. I think that's all for now.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

Nothing says "good workout" like being unable to walk down a flight of stairs like a normal human being to the basement afterwards. I'm running about a mile and a half now. Tonight I was feeling pretty good so I sprinted the last quarter. I think that's what really did me in. Everything hurts now, but it's the good kind of hurt. In related news, I stepped on the scale tonight and just about had a heart attack. I thought something was wrong, but I triple-checked the calibration, and it did indeed say that I weigh 169.5 pounds. Now, I have been eating less and sleeping more than any other time in the last 5 years, but being under 170 probably isn't healthy for someone of my height. The good news though is that my body is breaking down some of the fat. I attribute this especially to eating less fast food and fewer snacks (I suspect my calorie intake the last couple weeks had been under 2000 daily) and to running a couple times a week. Now I just need to build up the muscle in its place and get back into a healthy weight zone.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments

~~~~~ Gamer Geek Alert ~~~~~~~~~~ Gamer Geek Alert ~~~~~
I also polished off Prince of Persia last night. What a great game! I want to play it over from the beginning now. Actually, what I really want to do is play Chrono Cross again. And maybe finally beat the last boss of FFVII, but both those games and my Playstation are in storage. Maybe I can locate them tomorrow when I go out to run my errands. Darren and I were talking about FFX last night and it made me want to play anything Square has put out again. And since Crystal Chronicles is still 50 bucks, that's just going to wait. But with FFXII coming out soon, and Gran Turismo 4 on the way, I might have to just break down and invest in a PS2. Although, I'm simultaneously considering buying a GBA. Why does everything have to cost all this money that I can't afford to be spending? Grrr...

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

Last night I had dinner with Darren at Chili's. He seems to be coming down with a cold and was worried about infecting me, but hey, what is family for if not getting each other sick, right? It's so cool to have my cousin here at Tech even though I don't seem him very often. Just the idea that someone else in my family wanted to come here to pursue a brutal engineering curriculum is pretty awesome.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

Why June is awesome (and why I will go broke):
Stephen King - The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
                   Mega Man: Anniversary Collection for Gamecube

Bad Religion - The Empire Strikes First

Age of Ruin - The Tides of Tragedy

Unearth - The Oncoming Storm

Tiger Army - III: Ghost Tigers Rise

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

And Georgia Tech dared to give me a D in Basic Chemistry!!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

Adam's Beef of the Day: I found this shampoo in the bathroom closet that claims to have a Dual Silicone System. This intrigued me, so I looked at the ingredients list.

Water - H₂O
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate - CH₃(CH₂)₁₀CH₂OSO₃NH₄
Ammonium Laureth Sulfate - CH₃(CH₂)₁₀CH₂(OCH₂CH₂)₃OSO₃NH₄
Cocamide MEA - contains C, O, H, N
Glycol Distearate - CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COOCH₂CHOHCH₂OH
Dimethiconol - not specified, but I know it's silicon based
Ammonium Xylenesulfonate - contains S, O, H, N
Glycerin - CH₂(OH)CH(OH)CH₂OH
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride - C₆H₁₆NO₂.xCl.xUnspecified
Octyl Methoxycinnamate - C₁₈H₂₆O₃
Triethanolamine - C₆H₁₅NO₃
Disodium EDTA - C₁₀H₁₆N₂O₈.2Na
Citric Acid - C₆H₈O₇
Methylparaben - C₈H₈O₃
Propylparaben - C₁₀H₁₂O₃
DMDM Hydantoin - C₇H₁₂N₂O₄
Fragrance - not an active ingredient, so who cares what's in it?

So, not counting the fragrances (which is unlikely to have silicone anyway), only one ingredient has silicone in it. Does their "Dual" Silicone System come from the fact that it's dimethiconol? What a rip. Fun info available here and chemical formulas came from here.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

From my nightly job discussion with my uncle:

TOM: You know, looking for a job is a lot like dating. You gotta just put yourself out there and keep meeting people. Sooner or later someone will introduce you to someone else who knows someone else and sparks will fly and everything will work out great.
ADAM: Yeah, I guess so. But it's also like dating in that you have to put up with a lot of rejection. The first rejection hurts the most, but eventually you just get used to it.

It is a bad thing to be able to get used to rejection? At a certain point, you get rejected so much that either it doesn't hurt anymore or you just give up completely because one more rejection will destroy you. In my own case, I didn't date for most of my college years because I wasn't prepared to deal with the pain I endured through most of high school. Yes, it was lonely and depressing, but the constant stream of "I just want to be friends" or "I don't like you in that way" wasn't any less depressing. In the same vein, the constant stream of "we'll keep your resume on file" or "we have nothing available for you at this time" is getting a little old.
Anyway, I didn't want to turn this into a long-winded rant, but I can tell I'm on the brink of one, so I'll shut up. I just thought my uncle made an interesting analogy between job hunting and dating that turned out to be more truthful than he intended. Of course, I found Emily, so dating turned out okay, eventually. So if that can work, I can find a job. It's just a matter of time and steeling myself for rejection upon rejection before something turns up.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

On the plus side, my basement room stays quite dark because the windows are shaded by the back deck, so I can't really tell that it's morning yet other than by looking at a clock.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments

The problem with insomnia is laying in bed once I've realized that trying to go to sleep is useless. I feel like I should be using this time productively somehow, but I'm too tired to really focus on an activity like reading or job hunting or video games or writing ("productive"). So instead, after a couple spins of some Bad Religion, I threw on a metal comp I put together. It's got Children of Bodom, Darkest Hour, Soilwork, In Flames, Sonata Arctica, Age of Ruin, Throwdown, Unearth, Dream Theater, and Earth Crisis on it. The great thing about 6:45 am is that being a musican in a metal band seems like a viable career option. Not even if I'd been practicing every day all through college would I be good enough to make a living off playing such brutal (and brutally good) music, but it's a fun daydream when real dreams won't come...

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

I've had a busy day knocking out things on my to-do list. I cut my hair, listened to Bad Religion's The Empire Strikes First record 4 or 5 times, picked up Song of Susannah, deposited some graduation checks, paid my bills, sent Brian a check for our gas bill, left voicemails for people at Peavey, Electrovoice, and Lexmark, finished my latest Simpsons puzzle, vacuumed, finished some more thank you notes, and went for a run. *phew* You'd think I'd be more tired by now. Oh well. Plenty more things to get done tomorrow.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

Whoo! Now to swing by Home Depot for a piece of plexiglass and some quarter round moulding...

Posted by Rev. Adam at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Since I've finished Broken Summers, I wanted to cite a couple good quotes from Henry Rollins (reprinted here without permission from his self-owned publisher, 2.13.61):

"What is more flat out core than a male prostitute with his dick pushing against his mini-skirt flicking his tongue out at you while you wait for a red light?"

"One of the more burning sentiments he [Ryszard Kapuscinkski] works off of in his writing about Africa in his books Another Day of Life and Shadow of the Sun is that 99% of the earth's surface wants you dead and tries at all times to eliminate you."

"I don't know what I would do if I were a responsible parent and my kid came home with a Sugar Cult record. I don't believe in hitting children. I do think I would make the kid incinerate the CD in the backyard while Revolution of the Mind: James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume III blared in the background. I'd be such a rotten dad. You can't say to your son 'Your musical choices are consistently lame. You are turning into a pussy plagued with no sense of humor and entry-level intellect. You are starting to become a great disappointment to myself and your mother. This will not do. As your father, it is my duty to administer the first four Ted Nugent albums, repeated applications of Led Zep and Black Sabbath catalogs and early morning shots of Thin Lizzy. Next month, we work towards the Stooges and Velvet Underground. By summer we will be well into the Ramones and The Germs. You bring home any more of this bullshit music and I will not allow you to spend most of your teenage years alone in your room, sulking, perfecting your jack off technique and potting how to kill me in my sleep. I will make you hang out in well lit rooms and actually speak to people. Don't let this horrible fate befall you, my son. Rock out before it's too late. The first showing of Animal House starts in an hour.'"

"The arrogance of some of these people is off the scale. I am so glad that I am not in this racket full-time. I would have to be breaking the news to too many people that they are so weak."

"I don't know why it occurs to me now but I have been thinking of this a lot. There's a very ambitious ad campaign in print and on television to win the hearts and minds of Amerikans and sell them Humvees or Hummers as they call them. The television ad I've seen is offensive. I hate it when these idiots get me going but this one pulled my chain. It's the ad where the smirking pretty woman is driving her Hummer with a semi-industrial loop of music playing in the background. The loop has an annoying, almost taunting vibe to it like they know they're pissing you off a little but eventually you'll have to admit that this gas draining piece of shit is something you need. Whenever I see a Hummer on the street now, it just makes me mad. There's always that asshole driving it. He's on the phone and doesn't give a fuck what you think. Why drive one? To show everyone you can. There's no practical need for one of those things, it's just resource destroying bravado.
So, what, just let it be? Hell no. What about making Hummer driving a pain in the ass? Find certain traffic intersections that are easy to get away from, arm yourself with some eggs, wait until you see that single driver Hummer come rolling by - attack! And then run like hell. I think these guys would fucking kill you us they ever caught you. They have no other choice. They are genetically pre-disposed to kick your ass when you destabilize their position of dominance. Come on! It's just an egg... or ten! Or if you find a Hummer parked, say at night, you can always high-contrast color spray paint the side with something like 'Republican Party Staff Car' 'J-Lo and Ben 4-ever!!!' 'USA in Iraq' 'Will Chance Regime for Gas' 'Save the Environment - Blow Me Up!' 'I'm Thirsty' 'I Heart P-Diddy!' It would be great to see Hummers all over Amerika dented, spray painted, thoroughly abused. They could re-name it 'The Pariah.' Drive at your own risk!"

"If the companies who made the bullets, planes, tanks, and other equipment used in war had to give it up for free in times of war, there wouldn't be as much fighting and if there was, the conflict would be over really fast. If Amerikans had to pay monthly for the war in Iraq, as in a bill sent to their residence, with late or non-payment resulting in stiff fines, there would be no war. If a 'War Tariff' were imposed on tobacco products, alcohol and fast food items at point of purchase, there would be no war. The companies would boycott, and millions of tobacco addicted, alcoholic, fast-food fanatics would storm the houses of government and shut down the whole system. What would the Pentagon do against millions of berserk-fat-bastard-drunk-chain-smoking-maniacs who can't afford their fix storming their doors and going nic-fit apeshit crazy? Cool!"

"It was either the basement of DV8 or a night off so of course we took the show. Above us in the regular venue is a band called Trapt, I guess they're very big right now [written on 6/27/2003]. We saw their video on MTV. How embarrassing. Some lyric about making a girl's fantasy a reality and then the money chorus with this bony guy saying he's headstrong and he'll take on anyone. I have a road manager you can take on. I think there's a kid half your age in Baghdad who might want a piece of you. It's that MTV music, these bands sound the same. It's not my problem."

"I am in these cities so often, I feel like an employee of the venue on break walking around. Sometimes someone from Amerika recognizes me and they trip out. 'What are you doing all the way out HERE?!' Pal, Amsterdam isn't all the way out anywhere. Look, there's a Starbucks! It's a small world! Didn't used to be."

"I ignored memories that had become defining lessons in shame to come from the cool shadows of the tree line to the clearing because you put out your hand to me. I stopped thinking that need was danger disguised as desperation because you said my name. I stopped thinking that desire was violence disguised at mutual disgust because you kissed me. I stopped thinking that life was fear disguised as mere existence because I could feel you breathing when I held you in my arms."

All quoted content above is Copyright 2004 by Henry Rollins

Also, I would like to point out that the book was a compilation of Henry's tour journals while the Rollins Band was on the road covering Black Flag songs in 2003 in an effort to raise money for the legal defense fund for the West Memphis Three to help defray the costs of evidence testing. To find out more about the case, go here: www.WM3.org

Posted by Rev. Adam at 2:22 AM | Permalink | Comments

One of my favorite movies is on TBS right now. As Good As It Gets. Let's see, James L. Brooks (long-time Simpsons director) directed and co-wrote the screenplay. Helen Hunt is great. Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors. Harold Ramis (writer and/or actor in Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Stripes, Animal House, etc.) has a cameo. And the best line in the world: "You make me want to be a better man." Damn!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

Things to do this week in Atlanta:
Get a frame for my diploma that arrived
Follow up with Lockheed Martin, Lexmark, Peavey, Electrovoice
Cut my hair (we're going the full-on cue ball route this time so I won't have to cut it again anytime soon)
Finish my Simpsons cast puzzle
Change my oil
Find a picture for the frame my mom brought me from India
Go check on my things in storage
Deposit some checks
Maybe get together with Darren
Start looking for a recruiter/headhunter to whore myself out to
Go in search of part time employment
Enjoy Bad Religion's new record as often as possible

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

Accomplishments of the past week in Fairfax: Getting a reliable contact at Lockheed Martin from Ken Webb, installing an in-dash cd player in the Contour, cooking dinner for 6 people, seeing some good friends, playing some Zelda, finishing Henry Rollins' Broken Summers, completing most of the week's Washington Post crossword puzzles, sleeping a lot, getting comfortable with driving a stick on a regular basis, I think that's about it. I looked into employment in the DC area briefly, but most of what I turned up were things I'd already applied for in searches I did while I was here in Atlanta, so I didn't find too many new things. Oh well.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

Transportation woes: Dulles is sooo messed up now. If they ever finish construction on the main terminal, I guess it might work out okay, but in the mean time, that place is a disaster. Back in Atlanta, Marta sucks more than usual with a bunch of construction on one side of the track so it took 1.5 hours to get to Dunwoody from the airport, when it should have only taken 35-45 minutes. Oh well. I'm back in Atlanta now with my big hulking monster of a car that will take a little getting used to after zipping around in the Contour all week. For better or worse, I really have nowhere to go though, so I may not even notice.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

In other author news, I swung by Borders today (while on my quest for a Ford car stereo wiring harness adapter). Stephen King's Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah is out now (in hardback). List price is $30, but Borders has it for 20% off right now, so I might try to pick it up when I get back to Atlanta. $24 isn't really that bad.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

Whoo! Andromeda Strain is on AMC! Something to do until I fall asleep. Michael Crichton rules.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:22 AM | Permalink | Comments

So here it is, 4 am, and here I am, in the basement. I tried to go to bed after Jaws ended at 1:30, but alas, my brother got to sleep first. So he's out like a light in his room, right next to mine. And I'm laying in bed trying desperately to go to sleep. Meanwhile, Ben seems to have inherited my dad's window-rattling snoring abilities. I swear to you it sounds like a bass test CD in my bedroom. As I lay there, I tried to figure out why I hadn't noticed his snoring the rest of this past week. Then it dawned on me, Ben's only slept in the room next to me once in the past week. The rest of the time he'd been sleeping in the guest room with Jess. At least that problem's solved. But the snoring hasn't stopped. So I'm going to sleep in the basement tonight instead. It'll just be easier this way, and maybe I can get more than 1.5 hours of sleep before I have to get on a plane so I don't have a repeat of last weekend.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

A little peek at Emily in Brussels (at the Grand Place maybe?):

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

It's so exciting to see Paul Hewitt attend GT's Super Regional baseball game against UGA. I love the spirit (most of) our school has in terms of sports, even when we're not having a great season. And Coach Hewitt is just such a stand-up guy, so of course he's at the game! Now we just need to beat dirty dirty Georgia (twice) so we can get to the College World Series. Go Jackets!!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Went to see Super Size Me tonight with Ben and Chris. Unlike Michael Moore's films (which this film is being compared to), you'd be hardpressed to find something political to object to in this movie. It's terrifying and funny at the same time. I don't know how the guy can be dating a vegan chef, but I'm glad he didn't kill himself on his diet, and she did get his health back under control after he quit eating at Mickey D's. I've been good recently about avoiding fast food (mostly because it's no longer convenient to where I live), but since I've been running and lifting weights, I do genuinely feel better. Except for when I finish my run and just want to blackout, but that passes pretty quickly. Anyway, everyone should go see Super Size Me. It's a great movie. Especially the line: "When I have kids and I drive past a fast food restaurant, I'm going to punch them in the face." This is to associate pain and suffering with fast food instead of the warm fuzzy feelings that Ronald McDonald represents. I think Chris and I were laughing harder than everyone else in the theatre combined. On a side note: I just sold my stock in Wendy's. You can read into it whatever you want (don't worry, I'm not going to stop eating there, it's just too tasty), but the bottom line is that the stock has peaked and I don't see any more growth coming. So now I have some extra money to start paying off my student loans until a job turns up. Whoo.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

I finally got around to watching the episode of Inside the Actor's Studio with the cast of The Simpsons on it. I hate James Lipton so much, but I figured it was worth it to see all the cast all in one place together. I realized how much of a nutcase I am when Lipton would ask them questions and they'd respond as their characters and I'd want to correct some factual innacuracy. I need help... Is there like a TV Show Anonyomous or something? There must be, I mean, for all those Star Trek fanatics (also a category I fit into sadly) out there who can't grasp reality anymore (not me, yet) and have learned to speak Klingon (also not me, ever, I hope). At least I don't own any costumes and have never been to a convention. So I'm still safe for now. But back to the topic at hand, it always amazes me when you see guys like Harry Shearer and Dan Castellaneta and even Hank Azaria just bust out a perfect voice for their characters. Dan's Homer voice was spot on for the show and his various "d'ohs" were hilarious. I'm sure the re-run will be on again in the near future if you haven't had a chance to catch it yet.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

Dear Adam,

Thank you for responding to Electronics Technician 04-18-0983. However, you did not meet the basic requirements for this position. Your interest in employment at the FBI is appreciated. Please continue to check our website www.fbijobs.com for future employment opportunities.

FBI Staffing Unit

So I'm not even qualified to be a technician (much less an engineer) at the FBI? Huh... Good thing I already knew that or I might be bummed about it. It was nice of them to respond though, most organizations I've dealt with so far don't even do that much.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Yay for phone calls from Emily mere moments after waking up and getting out of the shower! Apparently her email is broken or something, I dunno. But I'll settle for a phone call instead anyday ;) And she'll be home in less than a month. Double yay!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Good news! I'm domesticated enough to cook dinner still! And a respectable dinner no less, for six people, who all have different eating habits. Kristin and Caryn came to dinner tonight. Kristin can't eat wheat (glutten), Ben and Jess are vegetarians, and my mom's doing the low carb thing. Anyway, I made grilled chicken, linguini and a tomato sauce, peas, (my mom made salad), and I made my dessert of drop biscuits with red and black raspberries and whipped cream. Everyone said it was good and applauded my ability to prepare a meal. Hooray! So when Emily gets home and I have a fridge again I can actually make dinner for the two of us again. I can't wait! :)

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Also played the new Zelda: Four Swords game over at Tommy's today for a couple hours with Danny. Would have been more fun I think if we'd all had GBAs to co-op with, but we just tag-teamed the game with a single controller and had a good bit of fun. It's an interesting twist on the classic Zelda games but I don't know that I'd buy it now, having already played so much of it.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

Had dinner tonight with my mom, Ben and Jess at the Sunflower vegetarian place. I know, right? Me? At a vegetarian restaurant? It wasn't my choice, but I have to admit it was pretty good. There were a lot of tofu dishes that were imitating other things, and I hate tofu, so I stayed away from those. But some of the noodles or rice dishes with recognizable vegetables (ie, not soy proteins) looked good so I had some grilled zuchinni and squash in a sun-dried tomato and shitake mushroom sauce over penne pasta that was really tasty. I wouldn't want to eat it every day, I like the way dead animals taste too much, but they do say variety is the spice of life.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

It's official: I have proof that I've graduated from college. My diploma showed up in the mail today. I haven't seen it myself yet since it's in Atlanta and I'm in Fairfax, but it's nice to know its there. However, since I am still jobless, I have decided that until that piece of paper starts pulling its weight and lands me a job, it doesn't deserve a frame. So it's going to sit in its sturdy cardboard tube until I have a job and can afford a $150 piece of wood and glass to store it in.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

So Reagan finally died at 93. I guess all those punks from the 80's finally got their wish.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

We had a little box social over at Tommy's tonight. It was going to be a barbeque, but the weather put a damper on that. Instead we had a nice selection of snacks and some broiled chicken that Steph whipped together. It was me, Tommy, Steph, C. Webb, Matt, Caryn, Danny, some girl that Chris brought who's name I've already forgotten (like Chris, I'm good with faces, not names), and then a nice surprise of Meagan?(crap, I'm soooo bad with names) who now works at Chili's with Chris and was in MYF. Anyway, we just hung out and talked and listened to some music and had such a good time. I think it was exactly what I needed right now. And it looks like I'll be able to spend some more time with a few people this week as well. Fortunately, a lot of us are all in the same boat of being near graduation or recently graduated, and for the most part without any sort of long term permanent job. So at least it's not just me. Now if only the weather would warm up a bit everything would be going great here.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

What the hell?! Why is it early spring in Fairfax again?? It's cold and rainy and I'm completely unprepared for it. Blech. Also, I'm running on maybe 1.5 hours of sleep between my bed, Marta, a moving walkway, and on the plane. So that's not helping matters any. I just need one good night's sleep though and everything will be fine.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

ST:TNG Puzzle Update: I found the two mising pieces underneath my laptop on the coffee table! YAY!!!

Posted by Rev. Adam at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Behold my geekiness!

Larger picture available here along with pics of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, the needlepoint my mom made me (I know it's slanty, I was trying to get rid of the glare), and the antique Moroccan rug my grandmother gave me for graduation. Mad bonus points to anyone who can name all the characters (proper name or species as appropriate) in the Star Trek puzzle. Hint: The copyright date is 1993.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

There's a new Treephort video out. You can get it here: http://www.jesuswouldplaythisshowforfree.org/

Posted by Rev. Adam at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

In other news, I've been reading Henry Rollins again. I hope to god that when I'm in my 40's I'm one iota as cool as he is. It makes me long for life in a cramped stinky van and long-night hauls across the country and not showering for a week straight. Because most of his writing is from his journals, it's brutally honest and introspective. He does spend a lot of time Amerika(sic)-bashing though, but with good reason I think. Anyway, I apologize in advance if I get really faux-philosophic over the next week or so. Rollins brings it out in me (though it's never really far from the surface to begin with).

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Star Trek: TNG puzzle I got off Ebay is missing two pieces :( What do you expect from Ebay though... Fortunately, they're both dark pieces and I think I can fake it well enough when I frame it up. Otherwise, puzzles rule. My new Simpsons puzzles should be arriving today I expect.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, Tom and the kids are off to Europe. John was discharged from the hospital this morning with a reasonably clean bill of health, but is still on crutches. So although it's going to put a bit of a damper on what he can do and how much he can walk, at least he still gets to go. Lisa is staying here (as was always the plan) for some much needed recuperation. She's spent the last couple nights sleeping on a couch at the hospital to keep John company. And now that Tom is finally on his way, the tension and hysteria and anxiety are beginning to subside. It seems like traveling with Tom is almost as hectic (frantic?) as traveling with my dad. Must be genetic. I apologize in advance to my own eventual children.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

Shameless plug: check out the Uproar Stage on Warped Tour this summer (better info here). And if you live on the West coast (or in dirty shameful Texas), PunkROCKS.net will be bringing you the mosh in a huge way with their stage.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

In light of my previous post, I'd like to throw in the name of a song that I just love by a band that only existed for a couple months but put out a great record.

The Siege - This Country Has Been Going in Circles Ever Since The Left Wing Moved To The Center

The album, Us Against the World, is put out by your friends at Brand Name Records (who have a slick new site), and available from the Lumberjack distro.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb. You'd think she'd never heard of the EMS number 911 before... But she's a frickin' nurse! This country is so ADD that we never take time to really think about anything and just issue a knee-jerk reaction to anything that rubs us the wrong way, even if it's because we're being ignorami.

Posted by Rev. Adam at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments