September 2005

Working…

I’m on call again this week, but thank the Universe it’s only for five days and four nights. (Wasn’t that a movie with Anne Heche?) I have already accumulated more overtime tonight than I did during last week’s entire on-call stint. Daddy’s going to buy some Apple goodies with overtime money next week!

Earl’s work pace has gone from “very rapid” to “anti-vapid” in about six seconds but that’s o.k. He’s spending every other night in Scotia which makes for some lonely nights but I look at the bright side. It’ll make the weekend that much more special.

I’ve already put in for two vacation days next week. I’m driving Earl to Philly for a family visit AND for business meetings on Monday. He then jets off to Vermont and I’ll have the latter half of Monday and all of Tuesday to go on a little road trip in the Acura. Any suggestions on where to go?

Cowboys and Indians.

It’s raining here in Upstate New York on this fine Monday morning. So instead of a little sunshine, I’ll just share a little eye candy.

Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright on Bonanza. I’ll be an indian to his cowboy anyday.



Disco Bunny Proud.




Disco Bunny Proud.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Oh my goodness. I thought I had lost this 12-inch single when I quit spinning at the local bar a couple of years ago. It’s my limited edition copy of Reba McEntire’s “You Keep Me Hanging On”, on pink vinyl! It has a “limited edition” serial number and everything.

I remember purchasing this single when Earl and I were first together. Earl and I were in Boston buying music and were looking for the cover of this song we had heard at Hillside Campground the week before. Being the cocky DJ that I was, I couldn’t lower myself to ask “DJ Mediocrity” (that how I referred to him) who the artist of that track was, so we looked around the bins at Tower Records and figured out who it was.

I love this record! I’m going to record it into my iTunes collection.

Walk And Chew Gum.

I’ve mentioned many times over the years that I love music, more specifically dance music. When they were handing out the gay, I took a big ol’ helping of disco bunny for myself.

“Pure Imagination (Wonka Trance Edit)”, Ford.

The problem with listening to dance music off my iPod or my PowerBook is that I can’t do anything else while I’m doing it. Let’s face it, I can barely make a a cohesive sentence in normal life ambience, let alone type something witty while I’m jamming with my iPod buds in my ear.

“Come Rain Come Shine (Radio Edit)”, Jenn Cuneta.

I can not begin to relay the difficulty I’m having typing this blog entry while I’m listening to music at the same time. That aforementioned big helping of disco bunny is having a hell of a time keeping his fingers on the keyboard, let alone managing to type something intelligible. If you left a disco bunny in front of a computer long enough and fed him lots of music, would he be able to type out the complete works of Erma Bombeck, given enough time? It reminds me of the monkey that could bang out a manuscript on an old typewriter, while throwing his poop at the same time.

“Let The Sunshine In (Hot Tracks Mix)”, Army of Lovers.

I downloaded this song from, well, somewhere other than iTunes a couple of weeks ago and then played it up when I DJ’d in Buffalo. Surprisingly enough, the crowd loved the song. The hook is from the 5th Dimension’s song of the same name. While it is missing Marilyn Mc Coo, it’s still a very enjoyable song. If I still controlled a radio station, it would be one of those obscure tracks buried between two Top 40 songs that you wouldn’t hear on any other radio station.

“No Regrets (Almighty Definitive Mix)”, Quartzlock feat. Lonnie Gordon.

This track came out in the mid 1990s. It was a reworking of the same track from the late 1980s, which was very popular at a bar I used to go to on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border just south of Nashua. That bar was called “DiRocco’s.” Good fun. This version sucks though, which brings us to …

“Come To Me (Extended Disco Mix)”, France Joli.

Did you know that this song originally had TWO verses featuring the male vocalist, Tony Green, who also produced this record. I met France Joli back in February 1997 in New Orleans. I should find that picture and share it.

Oh well I couldn’t find it but I did find an old picture of Earl and I standing in our restaurant! This was taken summer of 1999.

The City Pound

Earl without a mustache! Wow, I don’t remember that. It must not have lasted very long.

“The Visitors (Hot Tracks Remix)”, Abba.

Why do you suppose Abba turned down an obscene amount of money about a year ago to do a reunion concert? Do they know how many people are waiting for them to do something together again? Oh well. They must be happy with their current projects.

I’d come up with a witty way to wrap up this blog entry, but I’m too busy dancing around to “The Visitors”. Crackin’ up!

“Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy (The Remix)”, Big & Rich.

Just A Saturday.

Earl and I spent the day doing a little shopping and enjoying the early autumn in the Jeep. We made the obligatory stop at the closest Apple store in Albany and picked up a few goodies. I thought I had Earl talked into an iMac or a G5 tower, but the time isn’t quite right yet! So we settled on a couple of firewire hubs to hook up our gadgets simultaneously and some notebook stands for my PowerBook and his iBook. Since we both use our notebooks as our primary computers, these little stand things make them much more comfortable to use.

We also saw “Flightplan” starring Jodie Foster. I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the movie, but I found the last part to be a little anti-climatic but still good nonetheless. It was a sold out show and I only heard one cell phone ring during the entire show, so the four or five “turn your cell phone off now” messages prior to the movie seem to have done the trick. I highly recommend the movie; it’s good to see Jodie Foster back on the big screen.

How Did We Ever Survive.

As I was walking from my office building to my car today, I decided to be a law abiding citizen and crossed the street using the crosswalk instead of jay walking further up yet closer to my car. This is where I made a grave error. You see, as I was using the crosswalk, as instructed by the flashing LED constructed picture of a sexless figure walking, a white Ford Explorer decided that I would look better as road kill. I stopped just short of getting my feet run over by a rancid fruitbag of a woman yakking on her cell phone while ignoring the traffic signal in front of her.

Now I know that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that if you’re going to talk on your cell phone while driving (which is illegal in New York State), then go ahead and do it and stop trying to dodge cops or wrestle with that ugly handset. I suppose this is an example of the universe telling me “Ha ha! The government knows best, that’s why it’s illegal, ha ha!”

I want to know when everyone became so damn important that they had to yak on their cell phone whereever they may be. Are people so full of themselves and so self righteous that they think that they need to be available to their public every single, solitary second of the day? What happened to a little “down time”? The morning commute was your chance to organize yourself for the day, maybe win a contest on the radio and breathe in the sunshine and exhaust fumes. Now everyone is busy making appointments with their metrosexual stylist, yelling at the kids for making toast with the clothes iron and calling ahead for Dunkin Donuts buckets of coffee all via their cell phone.

Is there no peace in this country anymore?

I remember going to the “Hall of Presidents” at DisneyWorld back in ’96 and enjoying an interesting, engaging exhibit. It was magnificent, as each animatronic president said his piece and reminded us about the honor of being an American. I remember going to the same exhibit in ’05 and having to listen to Zelda screech at her kids over her Nextel walkie talkie for not meeting her next to the teacups at the appointed time. I ask you, how can Abraham Lincoln speak with dignity among the myriads of “beep beep” from those infernal Nextel phones or tinny, low fidelity renditions of “When The Saints Go Marching In” or “The William Tell Overture”? “To hell with American history, I want to know when I’m meeting my wife for a shaved ice!”

I think I’m becoming a little hostile towards cell phone users. A couple of weeks ago while we were at the State Fair, some moron would walk by, talking away on his cell phone and completely oblivious to the fact that he had just stomped on my foot, knocked an innocent grandma out of her wheelchair and that the cow ahead of him was not his girlfriend and was in fact shitting on his shoe. I would simply proclaim in a very loud, obnoxious, stage presence to the back of the auditorium voice, “OH MY GOD I’M AT THE STATE FAIR AND I MUST MAKE A CELL PHONE CALL RIGHT NOW!”. Then I’d raise my Motorola up like Kunta Kinte and genuflect. I would then proceed to dial random digits and order a pizza for the 10 people around me.

Unfortunately my attempt at humor was not noticed. People were too busy listening for their phones to ring a tinny, low fidelity version of “Da Dip”.

This Fan Film Thing.

Inspired by discovering the fan film “Star Wars: Revelations” yesterday, I did a little research online and found an absolutely wonderful fan film project in the spirit of Star Trek. There’s a complete episode documenting an adventure of the “Starship Exeter”, with a second episode in production. Like the Star Wars fan film, I am in awe of the cinematography and special effects involved with these productions! You can take a peek at the Starship Exeter project at starshipexeter.com. I’m particularly impressed with the teaser/titles clip of “The Tressaurian Intersection”. Go all the way to the end and watch the opening credits and listen to how good the music is! Wicked cool! I haven’t had goosebumps listening to music in a long while, but I got goosebumps when I heard that original piece.

These projects remind me of a lame attempt to film a “fan film” of Bewitched back in 1988 with myself as a flamboyant long lost relative of Samantha’s. Using an 8 mm camera, a few lights, some helpful friends, an old DEC Rainbow computer and a cat, I popped in and out, zapped a change of clothes and basically kicked up my heels as a witch like the best of them. ‘Tis a pity I lost the films in a breakup 15 years ago. I fear that they’re going to show up somewhere, someday!

I feel another project stirring on the horizon…. Hmmm….