soapbox

Ahh, the joys of link-blogging!

Sometimes, you just gotta love the Senate, especially when the old coots refuse to allow drilling in the ANWR. Good for them, too: the whole issue of drilling in the ANWR is something that should be addressed on its own terms, not as some shady backdoor “tack-it-on-to-a-necessarily-unavoidable” defense-spending bill.

And, in the breaking news (thus, no link yet), terror suspect Jose Padilla has been yet again denied his fair shake, as his request for a civilian court criminal trial has been denied.

Finally, to borrow from that snazzily-dressed Jamaican guy in the Red Stripe commercials: Hooray Consensuality! Hooray Canada!

First things first: I think we need a “travelly” mood face to acccurately describe the weird combination of ennui and disorientation that often accompanies air travel and other envrionments where the Superbland (scroll down to the last two paragraphs) reigns supreme. In the end, it was a toos-up between “blank” and “quixotic”, but, since I’m not chasing any windmills…

I’m posting this one from a suprisingly comfy airport chair here in the US Airways terminal at La Guardia. Even though I paid for my wirelss access, I figure a several-hour layover makes it worth the paltry $8. Plus, I get to be all cool like the business-folk across the way in the little laptop-friendly stations they’ve got set-up for those PC users who don’t have awesome amounts of battery life. Not mention how savvy I am: blogging from an airport wireless connection. I’m so freakin’ l33t!

Seriously, though, the digs US Air has set up here are pretty nice, and really friendly for the busines-traveler sort. Also, today’s big bonus included excellent weather for some superb views of Manhattan on our approach, as well as an almost full 360-degree view around Shea Stadium that allowed us to actually see the ballfield as we descended.

Anyways, in case it wasn’t already obvious, I’m on my way home for the holidays, so I reckon I’ll be seeing y’all when I return on Jan. 2nd. As for the trip, well, I can say that I highly recommend making the use of the Lebanon Airport whenever it’s convenient and affordable to do so. It’s so close, low-stress, and supporting it’s new initiative to make itself a real, serviceable airport for the region. Be sure to check out the cash rebate program they’ve got going.

Also, one final bit: noise-reducing headphones (even the relatively cheap, but effective Phillips ones I picked up at Best Buy last night) are the best thing ever to have on a plane, and in pretty much any noisy envrionment. (Labs with constantly running pumps, Michael?)

Y’all have safe trips to wherever you’re going for the holidays and we’ll be seeing you in the new year!

Well, in case y’all ain’t yet heard: Johnny Damon has turned Yankee.

This doesn’t bode well for next season, and likely wouldn’t have happened if we still had Theo as GM. Say what you will about Johnny, and I’ll be the first to admit he’s a serious injury risk (although not as much as Trot), but he’s an excellent lead-off hitter and a pretty decent centerfielder, both things the Red Sox will have to replace now that he’s gone.

My landlord, a lifelong Sox fan, was so upset this morning that he burned his Damon number t-shirt in effigy. He’s even claiming he’s gonna be an Angels fan next year (although Spring Training may change all that), but still: it’s that bad.

I’ll still be following the Red Sox next year, since we’ve still got Tek, Wake, and Big Papi to make me happy, but Johnny is gonna be sorely missed. Since the Red Sox management will never learn from mistakes like this, we can at least hope that Johnny’s performance on the field drops precipitously once the Yankees force him to give up his scruffy individualism for the “win-all-or-else-it’s-a-failure” team mentality. Maybe he’s like the biblical Samson: cut off his long hair, and he loses the source of his powers.

We can hope…

No, this post isn’t about a failing hard drive. It’s about a mysterious one.

Here’s the story…
I was in the office until 2:30 last night finishing up some shit that I should have gotten done last December…
Came home, went to sleep, woke up.
And decided to clean up a little bit before I leave for CT for Christmas.
Now the odd part. On one of my shelves I found a 30 GB laptop size hard drive, nicely wrapped in anti-static bags, but without a single label. Not only do I not have any idea what data is on the drive, I also have no recollection of where I got it.

Once Peng Peng gives me back my firewire case, I’ll have to plug it in and see what’s up. It’s just odd though.