you need power to run the coke machine..

i was eating dinner with a friend on friday night and the restaurant we were at blew a fuse. obviously, the power was out for a bit which didn't stop some patrons from trying to use the coke machine. it was one of those moments when you totally take for granted how much we rely on electricity for day-to-day stuff. then i was talking to another friend on sunday and he brought up something important. the people affected on the gulf coast by katrina who were not able to leave before the devastation didn't have power. doy..we knew that. but i don't think we've really thought about it. we were able to see the relief efforts and to some degree the scale of the disaster. people in new orleans and in other areas affected didn't have cnn. what they did have was destruction and death without a clear path out of it. i can only speculate that not knowing what was going on and what was going to happen and if help was on the way would only add to the despair they were already experiencing. they might not have known about the rescue copters and were worried about not being seen by them since people were stuck in places underwater, so they were shooting in the air to get the attention of the heros doing rescues. it wasn't about anger or shooting the hand that is attempting to help you. it might have been about being seen by copters flying constantly overhead but not stopping yet for them. with the lack of organization in the relief efforts in some areas and a mass of people without information, it should be no wonder that the victims would feel desperate.

just a few more things, because i'm not sure anyone is reading this. one...if your only assett was your home, would it be easy for you to leave it? if you had no television, wouldn't be hard to know the full extent of the storm? does it piss off anyone else that it seems like a better job was done evacuating animals and pets than was done for our fellow citizens? (sorry...just saw a stupid story on cnn). is anyone else frustrated that the federal government cut spending for FEMA and for the levee before this happened? okay...so much venting. here are a few really interesting articles to ponder. this is a good time to unite while thinking critically about what happened and what the next steps are.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0903-20.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0904-29.htm

a time for compassion

hi friends-

i've been thinking so much about the disaster in new orleans and around the gulf coast lately. the images on the news are hard to even comprehend. and that's what has stuck with me. there's a lot of talk and judgement going on of the people affected by this horrible crisis. and while i certainly don't and can't condone shooting at rescue workers, i've also realized that i am fortunate that i don't know what the victims of this are really facing. i'm lucky that i live in an area of the country that was not affected by this. i'm blessed that i have food and water and a home and i don't have to see dead bodies floating in water or grapple with the notion that i have lost everything that i own, i have lost members of my family, and that i've lost hope of being rescued. this is a time for compassion for those who's situation is beyond what most of us have ever experienced. maybe that's what makes it hard to understand why people would be so angry or loot or whatever. i don't defend the fact that people are breaking the law, but i recognize that i, in the comfort of my air conditioned office typing this on a decent computer with my iced coffee drink, have no way of truly understand what the victims are going through.

my friend wes found a really good article on fark summing up some of the aftermath. check out his sept. 1st post. http://thirteenthgeneration.blogspot.com/ actually, wes has a lot of good information on his site but that article was especially good. it makes the point that now is the time for us to come together. to help those less fortunate. to practice compassion. to cherish humanity. i think after things have calmed down a bit and people are once again safe, it will be time to ask some tough questions about the poverty in this country. people are already asking those questions and it's time we really pay attention.

some thoughts on katrina

a few of my friends have posted on their blogs about hurricane katrina, mostly because their families and friends live in the areas that were hit. as a yankee who's never really experienced this before, and didn't experiece it this time, it's hard to imagine how scary and devastating the storm was. just a few months ago i was in new orleans for a conference and now the city is in ruin. i guess i wanted to sum up some of what my friends have been talking about and share an interesting observation that was brought to my attention by some of my sociology colleagues.

one friend pointed out that people who choose not to evacuate put themselves at risk and shouldn't complain too loudly when the government is slow to respond to their needs. i can see where she's coming from to one extent, because people do that that risk themselves. at the same time, another friend pointed out that there are some very poverty stricken areas, specifically in new orleans but i have no doubt in many places along the coast, and that these people didn't necessarily have the means to leave. and not only that, that they will return to their homes with nothing. if you can't afford insurance, you just lost everything and it won't be replaced with shiny new items. so this is a time to also think about those who are less fortunate than us and literally lost everything they own.

another friend commentated on the media coverage of this event and how newscasters seemed disappointed when the storm didn't hit new orleans as strongly as originally predicted. it's pretty damn crazy how desperate the media is to get the story and that if they don't get the one they want, it's somehow disappointing that not as many lives were ruined as they first thought. i find myself avoiding the news a lot because of crap just like that.

and speaking of media crap...a few of my fellow graduate students in sociology shared this with me today. it's pretty disturbing and i think it says a lot about how the media influences our ideas about race and crime.

1: A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

2: Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

so, if you're white you're finding stuff...and if you're black you're looting. isn't everyone just trying to survive at this point? if you just lost everything you own and all your food...why not find some pepsi? just a thought.

my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this disaster.

nervous excitement

okay..now that i think about the title for this post it sounds a little like a line out of a seedy romance novel with thrusting and heaving things. that's actually NOT what this post is about.

the fall semester has officially begun. i taught my first classes this morning and attended my first class tonight. before i know it, it will be november and i'll be taking preliminary exams and then it will be december and i'll hopefully be ABD and moving to work on my dissertation research. i'm excited, because this should be a fun semester filled with visitors and trips and football games and friend time. i'm guessing it will go fast which means soon i'll be on a new adventure again. but i'm still a bit nervous about getting all this done successfully. i know it will be okay, but that's why i have some nervous excitement going on.

okay...time for sleep after a very very long day.

and there was much rejoicing

my loans have FINALLY posted to my student account. yay for money coming soon. now i can stop checking my student account like a maniac. *phew*

fumes are getting to me

so i had an idea earlier, when i was stopped at every single red light from my house to blinn and from blinn to snowflake donuts, about what i wanted to post today...but now i totally forgot.

they are doing some sort of painting or refinishing in the dome of the academic building and i'm getting high from the fumes. inadvertent huffing going on in my office today.

i was reading my friend dennis's weblog today and decided to check out the comments and i was really disturbed to find that people were using his comment space as a place to advertise stupid shit. i'm assuming these aren't people he knows. it just seems wrong. dennis is sharing his thoughts about faith and god and posting his homily topics for the week and people are then using that space to post about touring clay aiken's house. i have a feeling that this rant will result in a bunch of spam comments on my blog. but i just thought it was pretty shitty so i'll risk it.

let's see..other stuff. i'm in the process of writing a syllabus for the courses i'm going to teach this semester. i think that grown-up schedule that i've been trying to avoid is finally going to attack me now. guess i'm due to have one at age 29. :)

holy hot!

i went to the student rec center today and it was quite warm in the weight room as i worked out on the bikes and pumped a little iron. it was a tough workout only because it felt like the air conditioner was not on. hopefully that helped me lose a few more calories. when i went outside the thermometer on kyle field (the giant aggie football stadium for you yanks who don't know) said ONE HUNDRED AND NINE DEGREES! one of these days i wouldn't be surprised if i drove past kyle field only to see red digital numbers dripping down the concrete or exploded all over the place because of the ridiculous heat!! numbers EVERYWHERE! at any rate, the lady on the radio today said that september would be here soon so things would cool off. my comment was "yeah right!" what do you think native texans? what's fall going to look like after this summer of swamp ass?

it's not nice to lie

today is august 22nd. student financial aid claims on their website (in two places mind you) that student loans would be disbursed on august 19th. today is august 22nd. my loans are not applied to my account. their line is busy. it's not nice to lie. not. nice.

apple juice = = "icky bad"

so sara and i went to a new bar in college station called v bar. the ambiance is really cool, though the drinks did not live up to the hype or the price. many of their signatures were described by me as "icky bad." maybe they are new enough that they are still getting their shit together? no idea. all i know is that fancy martini concoctions don't need champagne or chardonnay in them and mojitos shouldn't taste like liquid wrigley's spearmint gum. OH..and mixed berry garnish doesn't mean you drop a cherry in it. fuggers.

what i do know is that sara and i both got hit on by people that were not high on drugs. as some of you know, one of the few times i've been hit on in college station involved a guy who creeped me out because he was apparentely high on drugs. (we deducted that because he wouldn't back off even after tim went 'west texas' on him and because his friend was staring at a light.) the guys tonight were nice enough. one of them though went from zero to drunk in 2.3 seconds. he later told me many times that i was sexy (doy!), but it's also possible that he's telling that to a light post on northgate right now. that's not to say that sara and i aren't sexy..because cleary we are even if that's somewhat underappreciated in this one horse town. it just speaks to how drunk that kid got so fast. it was crazier than that time phil finished the drink i got for him before i had actually paid for it. :)

anyways...i'm glad to be home now and away from the insanity. hell has officially broken loose in college station. in other words...all the people are coming back. no more driving around town without fear of losing my life or being able to sit down at a restaurant within 10 minutes of arriving. see you in january cheddars. :)

throw down in my inbox

i sent an email to tim and mike and shelley yesterday about how i was pissed that i didn't have AOL instant messenger on my computer AND that AIM changed their website around and no longer use old school AIM Quick Buddy, which was probably invented in 1984 and what i was relying on. now, i was mostly venting about this situation, but before i knew it..there was a computer nerd throw down going on in my mailbox. and let me tell you something...it was hilarious. it was like a little taste of defcon again. :)

here's a sample:

"commad line aim over ssh! or rdesktop to a spare windows box" -m

"was i supposed to be able to understand that? 1010010010101010101" -k

"i had absolutely no hope of helping with the aim problem but damn! that was
entertaining as hell to read. ;-)" -s

"She's on a windows machine. rdesktop doesn't have windows binaries.
So what she needs to do is install X-Win32 on the PC (which she
probably can't). Then ssh to a linux box and run rdesktop to connect
to a windows machine... that doesn't seem backwards, ugly, wrong, or
retarded in any way." -t

"She can use windows rdesktop or whatever the hell to connect remotely
to a windows box running terminal services.

She has hummingbird, you can do X with that (umm, i think), in which
case she just needs a linux box to run gaim off of. :)

or use naim on the command line." -m

"Am I going to get arrested for this?" -k

*insert 13 step process for getting AIM to work here. i didn't want to type it all out but thanks tim.*

"http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx

*looks around*
*whistles*

BOOYA!!!" -m

"what in the hell is going on? *grin*" -k

"I believe this is what is referred to as a "virtual nerd throw-down"
where two nerds battle one another in knowledge of a topic." -t

"*scared on so many levels* ;)" -k

okay, so maybe that was more than a sample. but it was/is funny shit and i had to share it with the world so they too could enjoy it.

unfortunately i still didn't get it to work, but i think tim is coming over today to hook that shit up. "gaim got eaten by some...linux or something... :)" -k

hope you all have a great weekend! i'll be taking it easy in texas and getting ready for hell to in fact break loose.

"Doom doom doom da dop, Doom doom doom da dop, Da ya ya ya dop, da dop, da oh oh oh"

"Doin' a little eastcoast swang"

that was just in case you didn't catch the motownphilly reference in the title. :) i had a fun time in philly for sure. here's the run down:

friday night- got to philly a little later than expected. shelley picked me and lindsay up at the airport and we found the hotel and then went to the hard rock cafe for dinner and mudslides and the biggest brownie sundae i've ever seen in my life.

saturday- went to the conference and watched lindsay's presentation. she kicked asses. went to some other sessions. that evening after a nap lindsay and warren and i took a walk to find a cheesesteak. we had talked about going to one of the well-known places, like jim's or gino's, but we were so hungry at that point that we wanted to go some place close and not busy. the weird thing about the place we did go to was that they sold sushi and cheesesteaks. figure that one out. i dare ya! anyway, it was quite tasty.

as we exited the restaurant i could here that there was a really loud and angry argument going on outside. turns out a gay pimp was yelling at a straight prostitute about how this was "gay territory" and she should go elsewhere. of course that was all said with a LOT more swear words and references to sex acts. it was a little scary to say the least and i'm not sure that's the brotherly love that philly is known for.

later that night lindsay and i met up with shelley, her boyfriend stu, her cousin matt, and some random guy. ;) (his name was kyle but we dubbed him 'randy' after shell's reference to him as random guy.) we went to a bar called finnegan's wake and drank some drinks and listened to an AWESOME cover band. they played a bunch of really awesome songs and we all had a great time. (and drank way too much and stayed up way too late watching a hotel adult movie...it seemed like a good idea at the time. pretty sure i can't get reimbursed for that.)

sunday- slept in a bit and missed a few sessions. went to a really really great one in the afternoon though. then i went back to the room and relaxed and got ready for my presentation. lindsay also ordered room service for dinner and we had this ridiculously good chocolate cake. damn!

monday- got up early to check in for the flight and read over the presentation stuff again. my talk went pretty well i think. then lindsay and i headed right to the airport to catch our flight. we had to stop in new orleans (since southwest operates under the school bus philosophy) and we ended up being stuck there from 1:30-5:00 due to weather in houston. luckily we didn't have to stay on the plane the entire time and we were able to get lunch/dinner and some ice cream. i even bought a new orleans souveneir since we were there for so long. :) eventually we made it back to college station.

all in all this was a great trip filled with good food, good talks, good times at the conference, and fun with good (and new) friends.

"Boyz II men, abc, bbd"

you know you're on a scary road when..

you know you're in the middle of bumble-fuck texas on a scary ass road when you're excited that you're going to be in hearne soon because that's the next "big" city coming up! i went to visit my friend adam in temple, texas before he heads out to fort hood and then to iraq. on the way there, i noticed that i was on a somewhat creepy two-lane road most of the way, but at least it was not dark yet. when i headed home later that night, it was really dark. so dark that you almost expect to come upon some kind of scary "good ol' boy" event, but you're constantly grateful that you haven't. every once in a while some crazy animal would dart across the road just to make everything a bit more exciting. (saw one of the biggest frogs i'd ever seen in my life, as well as some sort of coyote type animal). i was hauling all kinds of ass to get to hearne. i couldn't get there fast enough. and for those of you who don't live deep in the heart of texas, hearne is a pretty small little town (http://www.rtis.com/reg/hearne/) about 20 minutes north of college station on highway 6 (which is also no fun at that hour but still a step up from the road i was on prior to hearne.) luckily the trip was well worth it since i had a great time with adam. and i made it home in one piece...and in record time.

i'll post again soon about my philly trip! woo!

"i like corn. i eat corn."

when i was a little kid we were at my grandparent's house eating thanksgiving dinner or something with all our relatives. people were passing food around the table and i sat watching all this in my high chair concerned about my own lack of food. (this was a real concern in those days because i was all about eating. it's a wonder that i wasn't a super pudgy kid. i ate everything!) finally, i proclaimed to my family as a bowl of corn when by that "i like corn, i eat corn." my subtle way of making it known that i was ready to eat and that corn better be on the menu.

it's funny how in some ways i still communicate with my family in that subtle way. not really saying directly "hey..this is what i want" but beating around the bush instead. i wonder if this is a family dynamic that exists for a lot of people in their families. for example, i really want my dad to stop smoking and i HATE that he still does it. it makes no sense to me, especially considering that a year ago we were learning about my mom's cancer diagnosis. but somehow i don't just come out and tell him how i feel about it. i do my passive-aggressive things, like leaving the room when he's in there smoking, instead of just telling him how i feel about it. i really think i need to figure this out, because it ends up creating some strain while i'm at home when it should just be fun. i always think when i go home that this time it will be different and there are always elements of sameness going on.

DON'T GET ME WRONG...i had a great time at home and i love spending time with my parents and my family and my friends. it was wonderful to see luke again and play with him. he's hilarious and so smart! we had a lot of laughs and great food and fun times. definitely more positive, fun times than negative ones. i'm grateful that i got to spend time with everyone and really happy that some of my college buddies were able to share in the fun too. that meant so much to me. so i don't want to seem like a crabby ingrate. i love the fam. i just don't know the best way to approach them with the things that bug me, especially the smoking thing, without making too many waves.

so yeah, iowa was great. the weather was fantastic! it was in the 70s/80s pretty much the entire weekend. luke did really well meeting a ton of relatives, especially considering that he was a little under the weather. i got to see some cousins that i haven't talked to in a while, which was great. spent a lot of time with monica and dennis and jeremy which was much needed for all of us i think. definitely a good time and i needed some home time. i'm hoping to get back up there in october (i LOVE fall in iowa) to see the family again and maybe catch part of homecoming. woo!

in the meantime, i think classes start in two and a half weeks. i'll be taking two courses and teaching two courses at the community college (i think). nervous and excited all at once.

kate's defcon journal

"friday...around noon

i'm not sure of the exact time because i forgot my watch in all the excitement of vegas and going to the conference this morning. currently i'm freezing my nuts off in a hotel suite with a half dozen computer nerds. i should be surprised, but there are seven computers in here. the guys are trying to get internet access, as it seems that someone has hacked something or other and fucked everything up. the language is cryptic and if you don't know the speak, you don't have one idea about what's going on (which is the situation for me). every once in a while someone tells a joke i undrestand and i can participate in the fun. 'i think it got rooted,' one of the guys proclaims.

we're also watching presentations on tv instead of fighting the crowds of wacky people (in the heat) to get in. i have no doubt that the current speaker, (whose glasses are way too big for his face), is sharing pertinent information about something. but he's got the monotone, middle-school science teacher speech presentation thing going on, which makes unlikely that i'll attempt to figure out what he's talking about.

thank god mike changed the channel. this presenter appears to be a computer guy with social skills and realizes that inflection is key to maintaining interest. and he's kind of cute to boot, which doesn't hurt when you don't understand the subject matter. now there are nice computers in the room and five people including me. :) everyone is typing away on their own boxes and intermittently talk to each other about...well-fuck...i have no idea! :) it's amazing that i'm a pretty well-educated person, but have no clue what is going on in this room. it's almost like i'm plopped down in the middle of mexico with a limited, at best, grasp of the spanish language. language is key in this setting-without the basics, it's possible to smile and nod your way through an entire morning.

one of mike's friends makes the statement that at defcon there are "people who know stuff and people who are trying to put linux on a laptop all weekend." it's clear i'm in the second group. :)

now the guys are super excited because they managed to hack someone. the guy eventually realized that he was 0wned which made everyone really happy. :)"

okay..so i didn't journal the whole time, but i did take some random notes since mike expects me to present at defcon next year. bring on project number three. and i have to find an appropriate defcon outfit. :)

holy balls it's august!

hi friends,

somehow it is august 3rd, which means school starts in less than one month. not going to think about that right now. *shudder*

i've been doing a lot of traveling lately. i spent a week in ABQ doing some research and stuff (probably more stuff than research) and then went to vegas this past weekend and visited mike at defcon. it was a lot of fun and i'm still feeling pretty exhausted as i sit in yet another airport on my way to iowa. the time in ABQ was great. lots of relaxation time and i got to meet some more people to talk to about my research. i hung out with some of the people i've met via mike in ABQ and had a fun time with them for sure. the weather was also really awesome. definitely didn't miss the heat and humidity when it was in the 70s/80s.

vegas was BUCK WILD. there was drinking, a little gambling, A LOT of computer nerd time, and lots of hang out time with mike and friends. i got to try in-n-out burger finally and it definitely lived up to the hype (though i'm not sure i give it the same rating that mike does.) probably my favorite part of the vegas trip was going to see ka: cirque de soleil: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/Cirquedusoleil/en/KA/main.htm?bandWidth=Hi. mike's friend jason generously gave us his tickets and it was probably the most amazing show i've ever seen. i think at one point my jaw had dropped open because i was in so much awe of what i was seeing. we also ate at this fantastic all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. mike was awesome and pretty much paid for all my meals...so the only money i really spent was on shoes, computer nerd stickers, and slot machine donations. he's cool like that. *thanks mike*

i think i'm going to end this blog for now. i do have more catching up to do but i don't want this to get too long. later skaters.

kater tater

"home" alone

so, i'm hanging out at mike's house by myself. he's in vegas for a conference and i'm here in ABQ to do research and apparently relax a lot. it's nice to be here and to get some kate time. it's also kinda lonely to be here without mike though. he's pretty fun. :) just sayin'. his house is awesome though and after this past year, i've been overdue for some serious chilling. it's kind of nice to have very little going on. i should be more productive than i have been probably. i spent most of this afternoon waiting for a plumber to come by to fix mike's shower (no i didn't break it) and looking at apartments in ABQ online. (i know, i'm not going anywhere yet...but it's fun to look). luckily i had a really great meeting today and tomorrow i'm going to type up all the notes i have so far and work on my research design and continue to pester people about meetings. the more i talk to people out here the more excited i get about my research and possible relocation. woo! :)

let's see..the rest of the week i'll be going to a birthday party, waiting for the plumber again, doing some more work, and resting up for vegas too. something tells me that a weekend in sin city is going to be wild and crazy and fun! can't wait!

cross your fingers for a cheap flight

hey people,

so, i'm a jet-setting graduate student right now which is just a little bit nutty if you think about it. i'm in new mexico again, i'll be heading to las vegas to hang out with mike next weekend. then i'll be back to texas for two days after which i'll head to iowa for an open house for my nephew and some family and friend time. i was really hoping that mike could come to iowa too, but the flights suck monkey asses right now. cross your fingers for a miracalous last minute fare! for some reason the des moines airport is an expensive one to fly into. i have no idea why since des moines is not a vacation hot spot. it's very very odd. here's hoping.

i guess i should stop being a slacker and get some work done today. i love being a slacker on sundays though. *torn*

hope you get to be a slacker today.

:)

loud neighbors

so, i asked our loud backyard neighbors to keep it down since they are having a wednesday night party..again. i know..i'm old..i don't appreciate people being loud across the fence when i have to get some sleep since i have to work tomorrow. i think the worst part is hearing the guitar players over there butchering dave matthews band. as i said to lindsay, "if you're going to be loud, at least don't butcher dave alright?"

luckily i did get to hear some really good dave matthews covers tonight. thanks keith!

and i need to clean my room soon before there are toes all over it. once again tripped! sheesh. no mercy you bitch ass toes!!

time to pop in some earplugs and get some sleep. (partying 20 year olds forget that sound travels...i know, i know..i'm sure i've forgotten that once or twice.)

i think i broke my toes...owchie

hi guys,

i just got back from NM about an hour ago. i just jammed my toes on my giant suitcase for maybe the third time in the past two weeks. yowsa. i'm sure they'll be fine though. that's what i get for bringing WAY too much stuff..as mike can attest to.

so i had an excellent july 4th weekend followed by a great week in ABQ. on june 29th, mike came to texas to visit us. we went and got mojitos on wednesday night and tim smith made us all awesome dinner on thursday night. lots of good times and i was happy that mike finally got to meet my awesome roommates. cecilia made us laugh many times. "i didn't know that ladies could be guys," she said with surprise about a very manly looking female sportscaster on tv.

then mike went to houston on friday and i went to austin to see the scabs play at antones. as most of you know, bob schneider is one of my all-time favorite musicians and he sometimes plays in a band called the scabs. (http://www.bobschneidermusic.com) this sound is very different from bob's usual stuff in some ways. it's pretty rude and crude and i love it. the best part of the night was when bob came down off the stage (the only time he did so during the show i might add) and danced with yours truly. hot damn!

the next morning i woke up bright and early (well...sorta..it was early for going to bed at 4 a.m.) and drove to galveston to hang out with mike and his family and friends of his family at the beach house. it was a perfect beach weekend. lots of time in the water, on the sand, eating good food, having fun with friends (like playing board games), and watching a grass fire caused by rogue fireworks set off by yocals (i think that was mike's favorite part of the weekend.) it was a great great weekend. couldn't have asked for a better time.

then on monday night mike and i headed to ABQ together. it was way rad to have a traveling companion. that hardly ever happens so it was especially rad to hang out with mike at the airport and on the plane rides. (i kicked his ass in our crossword puzzle race AND made a stranger laugh during a rant in the dallas love airport while we were waiting to board.) i hung out in ABQ all week and got a lot accomplished in terms of my research and in terms of relaxing and having a vacation. even helped mike with some of his house stuff. i definitely needed it and i'm not totally ready to start work tomorrow (today). on that note, i should end this very long post and get some sleep. i'll write more about how crazy the rest of my summer will be tomorrow or something.

peace out!

i'm a pain in the ass?! me?!

i have a lot to post since i've been having a fun week in ABQ, however first i have to let my reading public know that our friend mike refuses to sign up for a blogger account EVEN THOUGH he could comment on 4 different blogs now. i checked and it requires filling out 5 boxes. i even helped mike by filling out some and he still refuses and called me...the person helping him..a pain in his ass. he probably has to fill out more boxes when looking at internet porn than he would have to fill out to have a blogger account. :) i even came up with the user name SpongeMikeSooshiePants. that's good stuff kids. good good stuff.

more laters.