So last night when I got home, I noticed that my mom's van was not in the driveway. I figured it just ment my mom was out shopping or something. I would have parked behind the other car, but now my mother leaves for work before I do. Thus, I parked on the street.
I've done it a million times before, but this morning was different.
I was about to leave for work, and lo and behold, a frikken ticket on my windshield! It's for a snow parking ban of some sort! I looked at the fee list, and now I have to fork over 30-40$ for NOTHING. There was no snow! There was no forecast for snow either!
I've seen people park on the streets in the winter all the time, and never noticed a ticket or anything!
Must have been a bored cop just strolling around at 4 am (time I got this BS ticket) and decided to screw with me. Grrr.
I'm going to try and fight this, but knowing the city it won't do much good.
We'll see what happens.
November 14, 2007
Ticket for nothing!
September 11, 2007
Colorful (and Crazy) Candidates for President in 2008
Just about everyone has heard of popular contenders for the Presidential nomination from the two major parties, and even some third parties. Hillary, Obama, Romney, Giuliani, and Ron Paul will continue to dominate news, and will almost undoubtedly go on to face off in the primaries and beyond. Yet, thanks to the wiles of the internet, we now have the great ease of seeing some of the more colorful (and insane) candidates vying for President next year.
Lee L. Mercer Junior: This fellow, running for the Democratic nomination, seems a little confused. One need only look at his campaign theme on the front page to see why, since he believes:
“The United States Government must regulate government sleepers and government regulations authorized thought, ideas, acts, actions, rights, wrongs, controversies, facts, issues and circumstantial evidence through intelligence research, law research, law enforcement research and criminal law research implementing ROTC communications research innovating education national and international.”
His desire for such regulations is particularly interesting; since he appears convinced in his “Reasons for Candidacy” that the government is involved in all sorts of unseemly activities corrupting his own life and those of the rest of us. Perhaps the best of these is number 49, which reads:
“To Prove the United States Government killed my sex life, my wife sex life, my daughter-in –laws sex life both may sons and other of my family members sex life with Espionage Experimentation and Espionage Exploitation sex killing.”
Jackson Kirk Grimes: Mr. Grimes, a self-styled head of the United Fascist Union (of which he appears to be the only member), previously ran in both 2000 and 2004. He’s back for more this time, with the same wacky platform involving a transformation of the US into a Mussolini-like regime with Imperial Roman features. His older website for the “U.F.U.” features a few fashionable (and hilarious) photos of himself and his girlfriend posing in homemade black uniforms and sitting in various restaurants. Grimes claimed to take 6th place in the 2000 election, so he may find it once again difficult to top his own delusional performance.
Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey: Though his website currently seems to be down, the flamboyant vampire who tried running for
Quay Fortuna: Not nearly as kooky in platform as some of the other candidates examined above, Quay Fortuna’s Star Wars like name alone earns him a spot here. This blog owner established the tiny “Ward Republic Party” that acts as his political arm. In heart, Quay and his fledgling party are strong believers in the power of local institutions to triumph over big government. His site is worth a look, if only because of an attentive focus on events he believes are leading us to Armageddon, and clever tidbits like “Hillary isn’t the Antichrist, but She Takes His Advice.”
Jeff “Petro” Petkevicius: Petro, as his nickname indicates, is running on a campaign with most of his focus on one issue: CHEAP GAS. He believes this can be accomplished by setting price ceilings on both oil and the price-per-gallon at the pump, alongside use of existing US reserves (which he believes can be readily replaced with Iraqi/Kuwaiti oil). The rest of his one-liner campaign planks, and website decorations like Biblical quotes and an “I Support President Bush” banner probably won’t endear him to even the fringe crowd, but they do indicate he is running a mostly right-wing, populist campaign. The site itself is heavily cluttered, and holds a strange resemblance to a social networking or personal website circa 1999.
That’s all for now. As the campaign season shifts into higher gear, I’ll be posting more political oddities, and likely even another series or two of zesty candidates destined to garner a lot of laughs and a handful of votes.
-Namtlieu
September 5, 2007
Computers: A Necessary Evil
In my real life I fix computers for a living. You'd think that I like computers, but I downright despise them. Well, that's not true. I despise Windows. Since most of us are stuck using Windows, I have to fix Windows. 2/3 of the problems I fix are Windows related. The other 1/3 is networking problems. This last week I've been dealing with both of those problems on my own computer.
I bought a new stick of RAM so I could edit my Buffy fan-edit faster. So, I install the RAM, and the fucking computer won't start up. It gets to the Windows is loading screen and it restarts itself. So, I try safe mode and it won't even boot that. I get my XP CD to do a repair install, it gives me a blue screen of death 4 separate times. The first few are IRQ fuck ups, AND THERE WASN'T AN IRQ PROBLEM GODDAMN IT! The other one was a page file fuck up! Stupid piece of shit. Then I tried again and it said that some of the files on the CD were corrupt...I called up Wilford and got a copy of his, and it worked just fine. I decided to install windows on a new HD instead of the one it was on. I'm happy because finally it's working...except it isn't. I get to the load up screen and the RAM is giving me false readings. I'm supposed to have 2 gigs in there but it only shows 760mb! I had to rearrange my ram to get it working. Then it just fucking died on me again! I reinstalled it on yet another new HD and now it's working.
I'm happy for a moment. Then I try to access my old HD to transfer all the files to this new one. It says it's fucking corrupt and unreadable. I got this program called Acronis Disk Director Suite. It said it could fix corrupt HDs, and I also read on message boards about how some people had gotten all of their data back. I got a copy of it, and ran it. It made the HD readable, and sadly only saved a few files, but not the ones I wanted...I lost everything from my Buffy fan-edit. I have to start over again from scratch. That part is my fault for not backing up the script...
This shit should not happen. Installing RAM should not fuck up XP. That's fucking bullshit. Stupid piece of shit, and it's all I have if I want to play games. I've got just about enough money to buy a MacBook, and that's what I'm going to do. I'll only be using my Windows computer for gaming, and my MacBook for everything else. I won't have to deal with the fucking bullshit that Windows gives me.
On top of all that, a few days ago my internet started flaking out. I did the usual unplug the modem and router and plug it back in, and that didn't work. I thought it might be the router since all the lights on the modem indicated it was working. I plugged the modem directly into my Dad's computer and poof it worked. Stupid router. I hit the reset button on the router and that didn't work either...We had to buy a whole new router, and it got here a few hours ago. My Dad researched it and showed the results to me, and it got mainly positive reviews. It's a WRT300N Wireless Linksys Router. It's much faster than the older one, and it looks cool too. It's got some weird rader dish looking thingy. It's how the aliens keep tabs on us...
-VampKei
August 26, 2007
This shit only happens in movies, literally
Woot! 60 posts!
What the fucking hell?!! My brother and I were sitting in a parking lot with the windows open eating our lunch, AND A FUCKING BIRD SHIT ON ME!!!
I was just sitting there enjoying my delicious Cane's when I felt something fall on my leg. I look down, and it's fucking bird shit! What the hell?! That only happens in the movies to the bad guy to make fun of him. I'M NOT THE FUCKING BAD GUY!!!!!!!!!
-VampKei
August 5, 2007
Resident Evil 5 and Racism: Again
If you haven't read my first blog on this subject, here it is: RE 5 and racism.
I just read another bit about RE 5 on Kotaku. Some guy said that the RE 5 trailer looks like an advertisement to shoot poor people! Here's a link.
You guys are really taking this too seriously. Again, I will give my example of RE 4. The spanish people in there didn't exactly look like upper or even middle class to me. Yet, no one bitched about them. Stop taking this so seriously, it's just a game!
Yes, things are really bad in Africa, but they're doing that to themselves. Fighting constantly over land or tribal belonging. There is nothing anyone can do to stop them from fighting. As long as they fight over such trivial things as these we cannot help them. Stop worrying about the poor people in Africa. They can only help themselves. (I am not against helping the poor if that's what you're thinking.) It's only after all the useless fighting stops that we can give them help.
Just focus on the game that will no doubt be fun, and remember that Resident Evil isn't just about killing zombies. It's about an evil corporation that unleases it's viruses on unsuspecting people. Then you as the hero, have to come in and try to stop them. When you get to the bottom of it. The game is about helping the people who aren't infected yet. Which leads to helping the poor survive a bit longer. If you can't get past the trailer, don't play the game, and stop your bitching already!
-VampKei
August 4, 2007
VVilford's trip to the Zoo
So I leave about an hour after it opens (Watched Beakman's World before I left) and I get there only to find it as busy as any other day! Grr.., whatever. I've been there on worse days, like a few weeks ago to see the new exhibit on a day when it was open late... oh god so many shitty little runts running around... But at least it was a nice day today. They recently made remodel of my favorite part, which is called the northern trail. It has fish, turtles, a mountain lion, owls, etc. AND one of my favorites, a LYNX (that's for another day, hehe)
Anyways, they remodeled the concrete to now look like a massive log cabin. Beforehand, I loved how nice and cold it was in there, since there was open air coming from outside. They made it better by removing the glass and just putting rails and such over it, so now it's totally open aired! They even added a small balcony, which will be awesome in the winter. I can't wait to go there and have it be free of the little shits since IT'S TOO COLD! WAH!... I, however, am immune to the cold. Muhahar. hum.
Anyways, back on track, one of the highlights of the trip was the farm part of the zoo. I first visited the goats in a small area that you can walk in and pet and feed them. I enjoyed feeding them and playing, but I had to be careful, since they liked to try and jump up on me and get their little poo covered hooves on my shirt and trying to chew on my pants. (I actually got a big hole in my shirt one year from those little shits. They're so cute though.)
After that I went up to the chicken coop. It looked like a few of the smaller hens had managed to get out and were running around. I snuck up on it and got it into a corner and grabbed it! it was flailing around wildly but I managed to get it back into the pen. I totally got a Link vibe while doing it, lofl.
After feeding them some leaves, I decided to leave. it began to fricken pour rain at this point, and by the time I had left, my light blue shirt was now dark blue and my hair was completely soaked. I loved it though... I walked very slowly it was so much fun. this summer has been dragging on wayyy too long and it was such a great feeling to be able to be nice and cold and wet again. Ahh, what a great time I had. I'll post some pictures sometime and upload my infamous lynx video to youtube. It's hilarious.
Anyways, it's still early, so I need to do some work. Bye!
August 2, 2007
2008 Republican Convention Partly to Blame for 35W Bridge Disaster in Minneapolis?
There has been a lot of road construction in the
Even with
It is true more details highlighting the bridge’s failure will be known soon enough. Yet, can’t we at least glean from this catastrophe some broader questions about the effects of this coming political stampede upon the two cities? It is the political parties, after all, at the root of this thing, and they form a reasonable place to start. Traditionally, both parties have used large, affluent, and secure centers like
Amid the mass of politics and its satellite finances whirling about (or, quite easily, vice-versa), it is the local taxpayer and citizen left in the dust. We have little say in the selection of convention sites and their preparation, but flip most of the bill. This harsh reality is sure to be doubly so for smaller cities like St. Paul and Denver, which have less money, less security, less space, and less experience than their larger neighbors. Now, lives have been lost, a fairly sizable project awaits cleanup and reconstruction, and life will continue to be made difficult for residents by the enduring preparations for the convention.
Only time will tell how stringently the finger may be pointed at the GOP and any underhanded political pressure on road crews. Although in parting, their tendency the last few years to slash funds for infrastructure at all levels of government is well worth remembering; if not for illuminating responsibility, then for putting the broader issue of financing infrastructure back on the table for discussion next year.
-Namtlieu
Resident Evil 5 and Racism
Resident Evil is my all time favorite video game series. It's what got me started on my horror kick. I got into horror hard after I played the first Resident Evil back in 98. I also loved RE 2 when it came out. I used to have beating that game down to an art form. I could beat it in an hour and twenty minutes.
Anyways, after many, many games we're finally up to Resident Evil 5. I'm extremely excited for this game. Instead of using a background of darkness like in previous games this one is going to emphasize on light. It's looking awesome. It's set in either Africa or Haiti. I've read reports that it's set in either place. There will be a mixture of the zombies and the ganados from RE 4, and that there'll be some new monsters we've never fought before. This looks so cool. Of course, some uppity PC person had to ruin the fun.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/08/01/african-womens-blog-critical-of-resident-evil-5-trailer/
Seriously, what the fuck?! She says that:
"The new Resident Evil video game depicts a white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people. The Black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man’s job is to destroy them and save humanity. “I have a job to do and I’m gonna see it through.”
This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."
There are many problems with her statements. The game is set in Africa where the population is predominantly black. It's not like there's going to be a bunch of white zombies there just to appease the fucking PC people. Fuck them. With the way she's making it sound. She probably wants white people in Africa just so we don't have to shoot the black zombies. That's even more racist than there just being black zombies killed by a white man. There's black people in Africa. Just deal with it.
The main character is from an earlier game, and he's been sent on a mission to check out what's going on there. My guess is that since the zombie myth stems from the very much real voudun zombies, that we will find Umbrella used something from the zombie powder to create the zombies that have been the antagonists since the first game. It's not like he's there to expressly kill the black people.
The game is not marketed to children. It's gonna be rated M for a reason. The M rating means that you have to be 17 or older to buy a copy of it. All of the other Resident Evil games are rated M because they are for adults, and no doubt even before the people are 17 they will have an idea how they feel about black people. It's not like a game is gonna sway them one way or the other.
For those who would call me racist, I've never been a racist. I lived in a predominantly black neighborhood when I was a child and they don't bother me in the least, and still don't. The only black people who bother me are the suburban kids who think they're thugs from the ghetto. That's just fucking annoying! When I watched the trailer for this, I wasn't thinking, "Oh man, I get to kill me some blackies!" I was thinking, "This is pretty cool. We're gonna be seeing some voodoo zombies!"
Finally, Resident Evil 4's zombies were predominantly spanish. I didn't hear any spanish people pissed off about the zombies in that game as inhuman savages. The reason, it's not meant to be an attack on your race. They seemed to understand that it's just a game, and where the game is set is what kind of zombies will be portrayed. The first three games were set in America, hence American zombies. The fourth game was set in some spanish-speaking village in Europe, hence spanish zombies. Now with the fifth game it'll be black zombies because it'll be in Africa or Haiti.
This political correctness just has to stop. It's gone way too far when people are bitching about hate mongering in video games. Video games are for fun, and not there to push someone's agenda...unless it's the fucking bible game... It just goes to show how far people will go to find something to bitch about.
July 31, 2007
Love
Lately, I've been working on this Buffy fan edit about Willow and Tara. It chronicles their relationship from beginning to end, and then a little after that. As I go through it I keep thinking about love. They had this amazing relationship that lasted through just about everything, until everything was cut short. When someone feels that kind of love for someone, I just can't see how they could survive without. There are many stories you hear about someone who's partner has died, and they themselves die shortly after. It's like their lives couldn't go on and they just stopped working. I wonder if the person had never loved, would they have lived longer?
Love is quite an amazing thing when you think about it. Two people who just need the other like nothing else. One that will always take care of the other, no matter the circumstances. I think of my parents especially. My Mom's been disabled for over 20 years. She'd always been able to do a lot for herself until fairly recently some things changed and now she's been stuck in her bed the past couple of years, and my Dad still takes care of her. He takes care of everything without a second thought. When he's gone for more than a few hours he worries and has to check on her. Most guys would've left at the first sign of trouble. As much as I've bitched about him in the past, he's quite amazing and I can only strive to be someone like him.
I've always thought of it as something that happens to other people or something that's only in the movies. It really does happen in life, but it seems that it's very rare. With the divorce rate as it is my statement seems right even though I wouldn't consider marriage a good barometer of love since it's just religious bullshit (but that's to be saved for another blog).
I've never experienced love. I've never needed someone so bad it hurts or wanted anyone really. I've had crushes, but nothing beyond that. I've liked the idea of the person, but the person as they were was just unappealing to me. Most of the time it really doesn't interest me because the majority of those in "love" just end up hurt, and I've got enough pain in my life that I don't need to tack on more, but as I go through the stuff with Willow and Tara, it makes me want it.
The big problem with this is sorting through all the crazies. Of all of my friend's girlfriend's, and boyfriend's I've only known two that were sane. The rest were all sorts of nuts. A good chunk of the crazy girls were due to feminism and the bullshit they're fed by current feminists. I'm not saying that feminism wasn't necessary in the past, but right now as it stands it certainly isn't required. I will also address the topic of feminism in a much longer, wordier blog. I'm getting off topic here. Back to love. The majority of those "on the prowl" are crazy. Maybe the reason they're not taken is because of the rampant craziness of these particular individuals. It's amazing anyone can find a parter with all the lunatics.
My family is constantly on me about finding someone. Not my parents though, they know my views on it and respect them. It's mainly from those I don't see as often as I do my parents or my aunt. They asked the question why i don't have anyone, and my response has always been, "It costs too much money, and I prefer to spend it on myself." I've seen my friends screwed out of their money countless times, and I'd prefer to keep that down to a minimum. Money tends to screw up everything, but that seems to be my stock answer everytime because I'm not entirely sure what I want.
The whole dating scene is bullshit. It's just too much work for nothing most of the time. I'm not saying that the end goal is always sex, I'm just saying you can't get very far by asking random people out to dinner. It's always way too awkward for either party to get comfortable because they had to dress up to appeal more to the other. When you dress up, you can't get terribly comfortable with someone because you're lying to them. This isn't how you look all the time, and you're expected to be witty and conversational. What if you're not very good at the small talk? You're pretty much screwed.
With this little tirade will of course come the question, if you don't date, how do you meet people? That's easy. Get involved in something. Talk to some people. At least when you both have at least one thing in common you have something to talk about other than small talk.
I got really off topic there. The thing that really kept me going with Buffy was the relationships. They interest me. How the two met, and how things progressed. It was really fun to watch, and hard at the same time when things were falling apart. After all, eventually I'd like to give it all a shot, but now is not the time, but they always say(Who are they that ask these things?), "Love finds you when you least expect it."
-VampKei