If You Really Loved Me You'd Let Me Eat Your Brain

Please visit the new home of Manual Override.  I'm done with this place.

My wife is working Thanksgiving Day this year, so I'm casting about for things to do on the Great Day of the Bird.

Should I stay at home and pray to Lord Giganticus, the massive LCD monolith that mysteriously appeared several months ago in my living room?  Shall I offer up my paltry collection of DVDs for It to digest?  Should I stay in and catch up on work?  Or go bug my relatives and give them the nasty cold I've had for a few weeks?

I was discussing my options with Anne when it hit me: I should stick to the old ways and do as my forefathers did.  Dinner with the Indians!  I should be able to go to the nearest casino and mooch off of them, no?  I mean, why not?  They're supposed to share their plenty, whatever that is, with the white man, right?  So it's settled: I'll kick the doors in and demand food.  Maybe I'll even bring some blankets to keep warm.

Did any of all y'all catch ABC's gush-a-thon tribute to Peter Jennings Wednesday night?  I'd really like to know where ABC got 400 pairs of solid gold kneepads on such short notice.  The coverage is absolutely fawning.  It's kinda embarrassing.

At least Jennings went out on a high note.

In unreleated news, Dan Rather announced tonight that he has lung cancer.

I received my Motorola RAZR V3 phone earlier this week.  Mr. Caparula's "techno porn" description was spot-on.

It has way too many time-wasting features, but I suppose the kids need something when the Ritalin wears off.  MPEG4 video, MP3 ring tones, Web browser, tons of games, the ability to download more stupid games, Java, etc.  It's flashiness (why the heck does a phone need a screen saver?) is downright annoying.  Which reminds me...

The interrupt-driven nature of the under-25 crowd these days really bothers me.  There are even some people at work who I want to smack whenever I'm talking to them and they start picking at their inane little plastic toys to read their latest meaningless text message.  Sometimes they even answer an incoming call when I'm talking to them!

The youngsters at work also have the annoying habit of keeping their IM clients open and running when they're trying to get things done or when they're sitting in meetings.  I really don't like seeing messages flash across the laptop next to me talking about how drunk some girl got last night, or how lame the most recent reality show episode was.  Aren't these people being paid to concentrate and do a job!?  Damn!  And when I do notice the messages out of the corner of my eye the laptop owners take offense as though I'm invading their privacy.

I should see if I could score me one of those military cell phone jammers we're using in Iraq.  I bet the under-25 crowd would have panic attacks within five minutes of not having cellular service.

Stein Night is upon us.  I'll try to get the there early to secure the big round table.  I wonder if the place is smoke-free now?  That'd be cool.

And to the putz who keeps posting comments about online gambling and boner pills: This isn't the "Low Rate Mortgages for Compulsive Gamblers with Erectile Dysfunctions" blog.  Go away.

If the Nation's Coloring Book is to be believed, the metrosexual fad is over and it's cool to be a caveman again. Read the USA Today article. Political correctness? Bah!

I for one am glad to have never abandoned my caveman ways. I never once thought about getting a pedicure, a facial, wearing makeup, on any of that other crap. I bathe enough to keep wild animals off of me, isn't that good enough? And I clean the house enough that spontaneous fires hardly ever happen anymore. I hardly ever ruin clothes when I was them. What more could a woman want from a guy?

Ahh, finally my good friend Usher has cracked. Visit his blog, Broken Little Person Sitting On A Tree Limb for reflections of melancholy and despair.

I love his Terror Alert indicator!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing Mayor Dave as he presented Bat Boy with a proclamation, which is reproduced below. He even shook my hand! I'll never cast multiple votes for a Democrat with this hand again!!

You can find photographs of the ceremony here, larger originals here.

MAYORAL PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, the City of Madison recognizes its rich history and variety of performing arts, and particularly the numerous community theater companies within the City of Madison and Dane County; and the contributions those theater companies make to the entertainment and education of its citizens; and

WHEREAS, the City of Madison acknowledges that StageQ, one of the City’s community theater companies, is presenting BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL at the Bartell Theater, April 14-30, 2005; in which an unusual creature/person, named Bat Boy, seeks to be one of the citizens of a small town; and

WHEREAS, the City of Madison recognizes and celebrates the wide diversity of its population, including people from many cultural and ethnic backgrounds, people of color, people of differing political and religious views, and people of all sexual orientations; and

WHEREAS, the City of Madison wants to be known in these United States of America and, indeed throughout the world, as a City that is tolerant and accepting of all people; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor of the City of Madison, Wisconsin does hereby proclaim April 14-30, 2005 as BAT BOY DAYS in the City of Madison and bestow upon Bat Boy honorary citizenship.

(signed)
Mayor David J. Cieslewicz

Signed and sealed this 15th day of April 2005 at City Hall.

Polish Pope replaced by German Pope? Yeah, I see where this is going. Pope Benedict XVI looks evil, man.

Sell your real estate in Poland and France and start buying gold.

Update!

I knew it! He was involed in the Hitler Youth movement! Read the CNN story.

I've added a few new links:

The Mendota Beacon - The new Conservative-ish newspaper serving UW Madison.

Letters in Bottles - Blog by a UW Madison student (I assume) and editor at The Mendota Beacon.


Thanks to a nice bit on What Attitude Problem? a few new readers saw out my post about the protest and counter-protest yesterday. One of them was SteveS from Letters in Bottles. Check out his entry on the protest. He's also got a lot of links to different media coverage of the event in his most recent post.