Are you that guy?
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General
So I’m driving to work today, right? I’m on the ramp getting on the highway. Now I’m not one of those guys that speeds to the end of the ramp to get ahead of everyone. I get on wherever I can get on and that’s the way it is.
So today I’m trying to get on and it’s fairly crowded. This is L.A. at 7:40AM. In the lane to my left is a Crotchety Old Dude (COD). There is a little space ahead of COD so I try to move ahead a bit and work into that space. COD is determined not to be the guy I get in front of if it’s the last thing he does in life. I’m like dude, it’s 7:40AM. You just got up. Is your whole day already so in the shitter than you can’t just be nice and let a brotha in? For me, once I’ve showered 5AM and 5PM are the same. I’m wide awake and cheery as I’m gonna get. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Apparently the 0.0000000762 seconds COD is gonna lose by letting me in will cause him to miss an important business deal…or the senior citizen breakfast buffet at Denny’s. I dunno.
I’m now about 20 yards from the end of the ramp and 40 yards from the next on ramp where a cop is ticketing people who run the one car at a time light. COD still won’t let me in. I break into “I’m your worst nightmare….a nigga with a car” mode, act like I don’t see COD and wedge my hooptie up in the spot just in front of COD. Homeboy is PISSSED! He lays on the horn and waves his fist at me like I almost took him out. It was only close at all cuz he was riding my ass like Willie Shoemaker on Secretariat.
I hold up my middle finger, wave it back and forth, twist it around for about 15-20 seconds to make sure COD realizes I’m not just adjusting my mirror. It’s a middle finger….and it’s for him.
COD gets off at the next exit but not before he pulls alongside and gives me the finger back.
Are you that guy? Are you COD? Cuz I got somethin FA YO ASS!
I say tomato, you say….ahh who cares?
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Technology
I finally upgraded the firmware on my Linksys router again. I was using Sveasoft Talisman version 1.1, which is several versions old by now. It has quite a few options the default Linksys software doesn’t give you. It was working fine for years but as a geek I’m compelled to think newer is always better. I loaded the router with v. 1.3 and within ten minutes my connection went down twice. I noticed the power button on the router flashing constantly instead of solid green. OK, that’s not good. I tried installing v. 1.2 to no avail.
I fire up Google for some help and see that both Sveasoft and DD-WRT have fallen out of favor with the open source software community. They’re both trying to make money off the software now. I decided to take a flyer and install Tomato v. 1.19. Tomato is an open source version of the Linksys software. So far it’s working great and it has some cool graphs. I’m going to play around with the Wi-Fi stuff to see if I can increase the coverage area to the other end of the apt.
I’m politically homeless
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Social Issues
The older I get the more I tire of the two party political system. I consider myself a free thinker. I see good ideas and bad in both the Republican and Democratic parties. I don’t fit cleanly into either one, nor the Libertarian party for that matter. I think it’s pretty ridiculous that people allow themselves to buy into everything their party stands for and summarily reject everything the other parties stand for. Republicans who are sick of the war, high gas prices and the weak economy but still too stubborn to vote Democrat because they’re Pro-Life and don’t want their gun rights taken away. Democrats that may not support a national healthcare plan but don’t want McCain’s amnesty plan for illegal aliens.
My vote for Barack Obama was actually a vote against Hillary Clinton. Overall he is too liberal for me. Why can’t we have a candidate or a party that’s middle of the road? Very few political issues are black and white. Almost everything is actually shades of gray.
- I’m a proud Military brat (vehemently)
- I’m Pro-choice (vehemently)
- I’m Pro death penalty (vehemently)
- I’m generally anti-union
- I mostly support gun rights (but no automatics or semi-automatics if there are kits to convert to fully automatic. I insist on background checks for purchasing guns and support closing the loophole that allows you to buy them at gun shows w/o a check.
- I’m against raising the capital gains tax.
- I support limited Affirmative Action, with the understanding that it guarantees equal opportunity, not equal result. I used to be against it.
- I’m against “gay marriage” (but knock yourselves out with the civil union thing)
- I’m against amnesty for illegal aliens.
- I’m against the Iraq war, because I don’t think the solution is a military one. Let the Iraqi’s fend for themselves. If they step outside their borders wipe them off the earth.
- I’m against ‘no child left behind’ – dumbed down the curriculum too much for students that weren’t behind. Some people were meant to fail.
- I’m against any global warming treaty crap that doesn’t involve China and India. If there is any man-made damage they’re the ones doing it. When I was in school they were telling us another ice age was coming. What happened to that? What makes us we’re any smarter now? The weather people can’t tell us what temperature will be next weekend. You really think they can tell you what it will be like 100 years from now?
- I think the Patriot Act is too broad. Elliot Spitzer got caught using Patriot Act wire taps. How is him boning some bimbo a national security issue?
- I’m for stem cell research. How else are we going to cure cancer and the common cold?
- I support a “flat tax” with very little deductions.
- I oppose privatizing Social Security.
Who the heck am I supposed to vote for?
How Bout Them Dawgs?
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General
Congrat to the boys who won the Men’s NCAA Outdoor tennis title Tuesday night over Texas. That goes along nicely with the Lady Gym Dogs winning the Gymnastics title a few weeks ago.
Goooooo Dawgs! Sic’em!
Press 1 For English
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under General, Social Issues
So I went to the ATM yesterday, right? This is California so I fully expect to see two language choices on the keypad. Well, imagine my surprise when I see there are now FOUR damn choices. I couldn’t even tell you what the other two were but I’m guessing one was Japanese or Korean. Swahili maybe. I can’t take much more of this sh*t.
The (Rev.) Wright Stuff
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Social Issues
Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This guy is a piece of work. I do think the media has portrayed him to be worse than he really is. I listened to one of his entire sermons on youtube. When you hear what he has to say IN CONTEXT he comes off as much less controversial than what media would have you believe. I still don’t have much patience for people who perpetuate the victim mentality among blacks. Nevertheless attitudes like that are still far too common in our community.
I don’t think Barack Obama necessarily shares the beliefs Rev. Wright has. He is a politician by profession. I seriously doubt he goes to church for help in formulating his idealogy. My guess is he decided early on in his political career that he needed to join a prominent black church to gain some “street cred” within the black community of Chicago. An Atlanta based politician would likely join Ebenezer Baptist Church, where M.L. King once served, for the same reason. The larger the church the better. It’s the quickest and cheapest way to get your name out there amongst the peeps.
I do think Obama should have seen this coming before his campaign even started. Nothing escapes scrutiny during a run for the White House. You have to be the biggest moron on the the planet to think this story wasn’t getting out. He should have distanced himself from Rev. Wright’s views as soon as he announced his candidacy.
Every time the story goes away Rev. Wright opens his mouth again. I wish he’d just STFU. He’s killing Obama’s chances of winning. If Obama loses either the Democratic primary or the general election 100% of the blame will be placed on Rev. Wright and justifiably so. All he had to do was keep quiet for another 6-8 months and everything would be fine…but NOOOOOOO! He’s got to tell his side of the story…as if anyone really cares. The people giving him air time don’t care about him. They’re just out for some easy headline material. He is certainly that.
There is more than a hint of racism in the way the story is being put out there. People who want to see Obama lose, both McCain and Clinton supporters, are trying (and succeeding) to instill fear in voters. Look what the crazy black man believes. Imagine what he’ll do if he’s elected president. Here’s why I say there is racism involved. Here are a few quotes from Pat Robertson.
“Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians.
Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.”
“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
(talking about apartheid South Africa) “I think ‘one man, one vote,’ just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights.” 3/18/92
(talking about Planned Parenthood) “It is teaching kids to fornicate, teaching people to have adultery, every kind of bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism-everything that the Bible condemns.”–Pat Robertson, “The 700 Club,” 4/9/91
I can go on for another hour or so. Here’s the thing though. Most of us (myself included) will read those quotes and say “well that’s just Pat Robertson. Nobody pays attention to him anyway”. Well then…how about you replace Pat Robertson’s name with Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Why does Pat Robertson get away with those statements but Wright doesn’t? If Pat Robertson comes out and supports John McCain do you think the media will dig up those quotes and make him renounce each one of those? I think not.
Disclaimer – My vote for Barack Obama is actually a vote against Hillary Clinton. Obama is too liberal for me but I just can’t stand Billary. I can’t vote for McCain because I don’t like his views either. I’m Pro-Choice, against the war in Iraq and against his amnesty plan for illegal aliens. I can’t take another four years of Bush’ism.
Back In Black
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Cycling
Today is my first day back at work after a week’s vacation. I just needed some time to myself. We will be moving offices in a month or so and I know I won’t get any time off soon after that. I spent the the week just concentrating on working out, eating healthy and catching up on DVD’s. Mission accomplished.
I’ve had a long standing goal of working out 20 times per month. I rarely reach it. I usually get off to a good start then peter out toward the end. So far this month I have 11 workouts in. I’m shooting for 25 for April. The hard work paid off in spades. I lost 4 lbs just in the last week. The scale actually said 6 but I figured I’m a little dehydrated from cycling late last night. Hopefully by Friday I’ll be a firm 249 lbs. Yes, I’m a big boy. Not really fat but at my age weight is weight to a certain extent. My first target is to get down to 226 lbs. That’s what I weighed when I first moved to L.A. ten years ago.
I attribute most of my renewed enthusiasm to my new Kurt Kinetic Pro fluid trainer. It makes riding indoors so much more fun. I’m doing lots of intervals and other stuff too boring to mention. Hopefully in a month or so I’ll break out the track bike at ADT Velodrome.
I also watched Season One of The Boondocks.
