Shellac fuckin' rocked.

Two yeas ago today, in the mountains of Tennessee, the lovely lady welfy consented to be my wife before a small gathering of family and friends. These past two years haven't been great for the world, and in my case it's been particularly bad. Hindsight being what it is, it wasn't a great time to embark on a marriage. The first year was HARD. This second one has been much better. Both have only been bearable because she's been there at my side: loving, working, supporting, believing. She has been the beacon in the storm, but she's also the wind in my sails.

After the truck accident, I acquired my first Bluetooth capable phone when replacing the one that was destroyed in the crash. I bought a cheap headset for it. It was awful. People I talked to heard themselves echoing in their conversations and using it in a noisy truck environment was impossible due to the background noise. When I went to work for Hornaday, I began saving all of my loyalty points with Travel Centers of America for the purpose of getting a professional grade Bluetooth headset. About a week ago I finally hit the magic number; I had saved enough to give me a $100 in store credit. I settled on the BlueParrot B250-XT and it.is.awesome. It was $99.99 with "truckstop markup" so basically I got for about 7 bucks in tax. Now I'm gonna save them up and get a free GPS system.

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You may recall me recently celebrating the one year anniversary of smoking cessation. I decided that since I've successfully kicked the habit to allow myself to occasionally enjoy tobacco. The problem is that cigarettes go stale and have become very expensive, so I had been tossing around a couple of ideas for using loose tobacco, like making my own cigarettes or possibly a pipe. Last week, I bought a carton of 200 filtered cigarette tubes, a 6oz. pouch of tobacco, and a simple machine for putting the latter into the former.



The three things cost me $14, $8 of which was the machine. The first cigarette I made was awful, I didn't put enough tobacco into it and it was all squishy and burned hot and nasty. The second I made I went overboard and it was a chore to drag on it. I finally got the hang of it, though. It's fun making them, but at the same time, it'd be a chore to make 20-25 of these a day for a habit smoker. The first week I had it, I smoked 4-5 cigarettes - because I had it in the truck with me. Now it's sitting safely at home. The plan is to maybe smoke one or two on the weekends when I'm home.

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I'm stuck on the road for the second weekend in a row. I did get to stop in Frankfort twice this past week and spend the night, though, which makes this a little easier. I've already done the driving that needs to be done and have nothing to do tomorrow. I'll probably sleep in, treat myself to steak and eggs in the truckstop restaurant, then lounge in the truck all day.

I began smoking cigarettes regularly when I was 16. After 22 years, and one year ago today, I quit that habit cold turkey. I have had 2-3 cigarettes in that time, the last being in April, but that's it. I'm sure in the future I'll allow myself the occasional cigarette or cigar, but I'll never allow myself the habit, short of contracting some terminal illness and not giving a shit any more. Having quit smoking and doing flatbed trucking all year long, I'm arguably in the best shape of my adult life.

One year later, I notice the smell of cigarette smoke much more acutely, especially on other people, but it doesn't bother me to be in the presence of other smokers. I'll never become one of those annoying non/ex smokers that gives everyone shit for their habit.

I still have cravings nearly every single day, especially after a meal. I suspect I always will.

I've gained 10 pounds over the summer which presents me with a dilemma. I've always promised myself that 175 lbs. was my cutoff weight, since somewhere around 165-170 is the top end of most BMI charts for my height of 5'10". I've always vowed that if I ever reached 175, I would begin taking steps to maintain and/or reduce it. Yesterday when I stepped on the scales at home, it read 172.

The dilemma is that I don't think the recent weight gain is from fat, but from muscle. When making this promise to myself, I never imagined that I would gain weight in this manner. Since becoming a flat bed trucker, my body has grown thick and muscular. I'm barrel chested with defined pectorals. My thighs are firm and strong. My biceps bulge the hem of a short sleeve when flexed and my forearms are sinewy and well defined. The muscles in my shoulders rise above the bone. There's even this really interesting meaty thingy right at the base of my neck where it meets the shoulder. After being a 120 pound weakling most of my life, I could probably kick your ass now.

That's not to say I'm lean, though. I do have a considerable middle-aged man's paunch. But I've had that for some time and, while I think I could probably stand to lose 10 pounds from there, I don't think that's where I've gained the 10 pounds. With concern to my paunch, I've always accepted it as an inevitable consequence of aging, especially since it's the only sign of fat anywhere on me. Most BMI charts claim that for my height, 170-205 is the "overweight" range for me. Going over 205 would be obesity territory. However, the BMI chart admits that the index doesn't allow for various factors, including muscularity. One could make an argument that I'm carrying a little extra weight, but I don't think anyone would construe my body as being overweight.

In light of all this, I'm going to relax my cutoff weight vow as long as I have these muscles and move it up to 200 pounds. I figure that realistically, the most I can continue to put on in muscle is another 20 pounds, topping me out around 190. Personally, I think I'm going to naturally top-out at about 180 with the muscle, but I'll allow myself the 10 pounds of leeway. I'm basically giving myself 30lbs. of muscle on the BMI, but I can't imagine any scenario where 200 pounds would be an appropriate amount of weight on a 5'10" man.

Since I don't find it useful for writing about the present very much any more, I thought it might be fun to share some of my past with you. I may find this easier as my biggest problem with writing for LJ these days is that I never feel like I have adequate time to write about things in a timely fashion. Maybe if I approach it as a way to capture the past, thereby eliminating any self-imposed notions of timeliness, I can achieve a little return to form. This is the first of two stories from my college days, but I'm sure I'll think of more. I don't know how long this will last, so enjoy this possibly brief surge in soopageek output.

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In preparation for my attendance at the University of Kentucky and eventual move to Lexington, I secured myself a job bussing tables at The Mansion restaurant at the Marriott resort hotel in the summer of 1988. At the tender age of 18, I already considered myself an open minded person despite having grown-up in the more conservative milieu of rural Kentucky. Working at the Mansion was my first exposure to openly homosexual people. Back home there had been gay men, but they were heavily closeted in the community. There was one lesbian couple, too, but it was usually talked about in hushed tones or with malicious sniggering. There's a keen difference between an ideological construct and actual experience, and I'll take the latter over the former any day of the week. Sharing the coed dressing room on the third floor of The Mansion with the diverse staff, as innocuous and trifling as it may have seemed at the time, proved to be valuable life experience in hindsight. Of course, seeing my female co-workers in a bra was just bonus.

A handful of you knew me then, but for most of you, can you imagine the even more testosterone-fueled me of 18? It boggles the mind. Every afternoon, after donning my ersatz tuxedo in the dressing room and making sure my serving credenzas were prepared, I would take my meal break in the employee cafeteria. The cafeteria was in the main hotel, which provided a nice stroll along the recreational areas of the property. While returning from my meal, I was walking beside the tennis courts just as a young woman was serving. She was outfitted in complete tennis regalia, right down to the skimpy white skirt. Her back was to me, as she lifted the ball into the air, extending her form onto the tips of her toes in one fluid motion. She swung, arching her body forward and the loud plucking sound of the ball striking the strings of her racket filled the court. This was all occurring to the left of me as I walked along the sidewalk. As I turned my head back to facing forward, the next sound to fill the court was the loud CLANG of my forehead meeting a lamp post. It cost me a night of work with a trip to the emergency room and 6 stitches.

I'm one of the healthiest people there are. I usually boast to people that I never get sick, because the frequency with which I do is on the order of about 3-4 years. The last time I got really sick was in January of 2007 when I had the flu. So when Welf gets sick, I usually take no extra precautions to protect myself from the germs.

Sometime after I left the house last night, Welf started feeling sick: runny nose, sore throat, etc. By this morning, she was feeling even worse. I didn't think anything of it aside from feeling bad for her as she grew increasingly more pitiful as the day progressed. As it stands, she may not make it to work tomorrow.

Through this evening though, I began sneezing profusely. I started experiencing a nasal drip which naturally led to a sore throat. I laid down to go to bed about an hour and a half ago. After an hour of fitful sleep I woke up with an awful sore throat from the drainage in the back of my throat and an increasingly stuffy nose which was making it hard to breathe.

Great.

At least it doesn't seem to be the flu. Just seems to be the common cold. Usually I can fight these off rather quickly with the proper methods. I went into the truckstop a little while ago and bought two bottles of orange juice and a bottle of Nyquil. I took one dose and am waiting on it to kick-in. I'll take another half dose just before I lay down again, and that oughta knock me out and let me sleep rather comfortably through the night. Right now, I'm forcing myself through the OJ. I had hoped to find some zinc lozenges but alas, they didn't have any. I took some Cold-Eze a couple of winters ago at the onset of a cold and the symptoms were gone within 12 hours. If I'm still feeling lousy in the morning I may have to locate a Walmart or grocery store and see if I can find some.

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Twitter holds no interest for me, but I have come across one Twitter page that I liked so much that I syndicated it on LJ so it would appear on my flist. It's called Shit My Dad Says. Some guy named Justin, who is an adult still living with his parents, records the foul-mouthed, smart-ass ramblings of his 73 year old father for your entertainment. Here's a sample of what you can expect:

It's not the gardener's job to pick up the dog shit. If you don't want to pick up the dog shit, then learn a skill like gardening.

You're gonna run into jerk offs. But remember, it's not the size of the asshole you worry about, it's how much shit comes out of it.

Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don't realize until later that it's because it fucked you.

The worst thing you can be is a liar....Okay fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but THEN, number two is liar. Nazi 1, Liar 2.

Don't listen to the pussy side of you when you make a decision. People gravitate towards being a pussy. Remove the pussy, son.

I'm having a Makers Mark, you want one? What? 7up? I ain't mixing fucking makers with 7up. Might as well put a lil' fucking umbrella in it.

What are you listening to?...I know who Hall & Oates are god dammit. It's the mustache guy and the gay man.

You know, sometimes it's nice having you around. But now ain't one of those times. Now gimmie the remote we're not watching this bullshit.

Your mother made a batch of meatballs last night. Some are for you, some are for me, but more are for me. Remember that. More. Me.

The dog is not bored, it's a fucking dog. It's not like he's waiting for me to give him a fucking rubix cube. He's a god damned dog.

The dog is an outside dog. You want an inside dog, you go get your own inside.

The LJ syndication is shitmydadsays if you're interested.

Lately, I've become addicted to watching old television shows, in their entirety. Here's what I've been watching over the past year and some thoughts.

Max Headroom

The short lived futuristic drama that attempted to bring cyberpunk to television. Matt Frewer was charming, Amanda Pays was smokin' hot, and Jeffrey Tambor still didn't have any hair, even back in 1987. It began as a BBC Channel 4 TV movie and was expanded to a U.S. series that ran for two, partial seasons with a total of 14 episodes. Even so, it still ranks as one of my all-time favorites.

Miami Vice

A favorite of mine when I was in high school, but I quit watching it at some point. I thought it'd be fun to go back and see the entire 5 season series, but I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, re-watching the first season was great. While the fashions and music are very dated, the first season is still gripping, fun, and highly stylish. Unfortunately, it grows stale really fast midway in season 2 and by season 3 I couldn't bring myself to watch any more of it and gave up. What's interested about watching some of these old shows is seeing actors who were nobodies in supporting roles who are now recognizable on hit TV shows today. A case in point on this show was Terry Quinn (aka John Locke from Lost) playing a weaselly lawyer.

WKRP In Cincinnati

I was really too young to appreciate this sitcom when it aired from 1978-82, but recall it being one of my dad's favorites. In my mind, three of these characters - Les Nesman, Herb Tarlek, and Dr. Johnny Fever - are three of the greatest sitcom characters ever. Gordon Jump had spectacular comedic timing as well. And Loni Anderson... wow. Watching her made me realize just how much notions of what constitutes female beauty has changed in the past 20 years. With notable exception (Mad Men's Chistina Hendricks comes to mind) you just don't see women built like that on TV any more.

Night Court

Another of my all-time favorite shows. Probably in my top 5. Thanks to the power of the internet I managed to watch all 8 seasons. John Larroquette as Dan Fielding is one of the great comedic performances for my money. The blend of writing with him as a lecherous womanizer combined with his knack for physical comedy carried the show the entire way. In the final season, there is a 3-show story arc which includes a young Cristine Rose (aka Angela Petrelli from Heroes) as a "sex surrogate" who employs Dan.

Frasier

Through the 90s and most of this decade, I began watching less and less television. Having been a fan of Cheers in the 80s, I had seen some of Frasier in the first couple of seasons and knew it to be high quality. In fact, it's safe to say that Frasier raised the bar for quality in sitcoms. The writing was impeccable and it has won more Emmys than any other show in history. That's no small feat. It's the show I'm currently working through, somewhere in the 8th of 11 seasons. I didn't realize all of the "guest callers" on his fictional radio program were actually "guest star" appearances. David Hyde Piece has the ability to send me into hysterical fits of laughter with his dry delivery and physical comedy.

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I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. I'm of a mind to delve into The John Larroquette Show and follow it up with Boston Legal. I plan to start and catch-up on some currently airing shows like 30 Rock and Burn Notice. I've also got a couple of short-lived shows lined-up: Herman's Head and Freaks and Geeks. After watching Frasier and having been immersed in Monk for the past couple of years with Welf, I might revisit the sitcom Wings which I saw here and there through the 90s. I also plan to do Seinfeld from start to finish. One I'd really like to do from the 80s is Newhart if I can get my hands on the complete 8 seasons.

Whilst reading the following entry along with the rest of your f-list, please enjoy my latest 8tracks mix. The link will open a new window/tab for you so you can start the player and come back here to finish your LiveJournal browsing.

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At the end of last week, I loaded in Huntingburg, IN with a load of particle board being shipped from the MasterBrand cabinet plant there, to another MasterBrand plant in Martinsville, VA on Monday morning, allowing me to stop in Frankfort for some home time along the way. It was kinda cool because, I used to haul for MasterBrand almost exclusively back when I worked for Werner as a company driver. I had been to both plants before, actually. I left mid-afternoon on Sunday and was in Martinsville a little after 1am. The next morning, I was empty by 10am and ready for a new load.

I sat for a while that morning, as is typical with this company. It's the thing that I dislike the most about my current line of work; their logistics sucks resulting in really long days. Sure, I don't do anything for those 3-4 hours I sit through the morning and early afternoon, but I've been up since 7-8am, and when I DO finally get a new load, I have to go get it, secure it, and tarp it. By then, it's usually 5-6 in the evening and I'm looking at a 7-8 hour drive still.

So anyway, this is what happened on Monday. I was ready to roll with my new load around 6pm; a load of plywood going from a Georgia-Pacific plant in Gladys, VA to an 84 Lumber yard in Columbia Station, OH - a little southwest of Cleveland. That's quite a haul, but I had until 4:30 the following afternoon to get there. I drove until maybe 3am and got some rest. I realized that, to make it there safely before the appointed time, I was going to have to fudge my logbook by about an hour. Not a big deal, I could catch up to it later, so off I went.

Uncharacteristically, they pre-assigned me my next trip; a load of roofing shingle going from Medina, OH to Louisville, KY. For the record I love roofing shingle loads; they're easier to secure and don't have to be tarped. Thing is, even with the time I was allowing myself, unless everything went perfectly, making it over to Medina before 5pm was going to be tight. So I told dispatch this, because I wanted to do the right thing and not have one of customers in a bind because I couldn't make the pickup appointment time. As a precaution they removed me from the load and I presume they began looking for another truck to go get it.

By 4pm, I was empty at 84 Lumber and Medina was only 25 miles away. I had 60 minutes to make a 40 minute trip, so I called dispatch to let them know. However, they had indeed found someone else to take the load so now here I was without a load and only an hour or two left in the day. Naturally, I got stuck in Columbia Station for the night. I parked in a nearby strip mall and spent the night eating pizza and writing my Heroes recap.

So this morning, I awake to a message on my Qualcomm. I'm to pick up some steel plates over in Youngstown and take them to Knoxille, TN by tomorrow afternoon. Away I go, stopping briefly at a service Plaza on the toll road for lunch. I get to Youngstown at 12:30 in the afternoon only to find that there's been some mistake and the load that I've been dispatched with has already been picked up by a different truck. In short, the load fell through. And with it being this late in the day. . .

. . .you guessed it. So I'm currently sitting at a truckstop outside Youngstown. Dispatch is on Central time, so they'll be in the office for another hour and a 20 minutes. However, I'm in Eastern time and most of the plants' offices are either already closed or they're going home in the next 20 minutes. Do you think that the next time I have a load assignment, especially one that is: a) easy and b) going near my house that I'm going to open my big fat mouth about maybe/possibly not making the appointment time? You bet your sweet bippy I won't.

So, I'll probably hang out in the truck for a little while longer to make sure I don't get assigned something, then I'm going to get a much needed shower and have dinner. There's a Quaker Steak and Lube just up the street which I may do. There's also Club 76 across the street: a strip club with a restaurant, or vice versa depending on how you look at it. As tempting as that is, honestly, I could go for a bucket of QS&L right about now.

In anticipation of the new season of Heroes I re-watched Season 3 over the past couple of weeks. I missed the last half of the season in its original run, and apparently forgot a lot of what I did see. I know there are a few Heroes fans on my f-list, so I thought I'd offer a recap of last season to help refresh your memory of the plot points and where they stand. It's all beneath the cut because these are obviously spoilers. Discussion is welcome and ecouraged.

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I didn't to go home this weekend. Instead I was stuck taking a load from eastern Virginia to the Cleveland area. I decided to park at the TA in Canton, OH for the weekend. I got in on Saturday evening and did some laundry and had dinner, but otherwise goofed off on the internet the rest of the evening. I slept in late this morning then got a shower and cleaned the truck a little.

I decided to go for a walk, but it was a walk with a purpose. Less than a mile away was a Quaker Steak and Lube. I've never cared much for buffalo wings, but since being with welfy and regular trips to the original location in Sharon, PA, I've grown fond of their Golden Garlic wings.

Before I got out of the truck stop parking lot, I saw something you don't see every day.


Because traditional trailer seals are for sissies.

The truckstop as you might imagine is located in a commercial area of the city, so the walk was less than inspiring.



I went inside and ordered a Compact Bucket and topped it off with a massive slice of cheesecake with strawberry topping. I watched the end of the NASCAR race and some of the last round of the PGA Championship until it became apparent that Tiger was choking and Yang had it in the bag. Afterward, I went outside and looked at all the cars parked outside, for it was show car night, complete with a DJ from a local radio station doing a live remote.



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I decided that it might be fun to do a post for the adayinmylife community on LiveJournal. I plan on posting it tomorrow in the community, but I thought I'd post it in my own journal tonight for you guys. It'll also be an easy way to make sure there's nothing buggy with any of the HTML and/or links.


August 3, 2009
Lin, 39
Frankfort, KY
first ADIML
70 photos total


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Last night, I rode The Dragon.

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Why is fruit punch red? Rather, why do we universally accept that fruit punch is supposed to be red?

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If, like me, you use multiple computers, you may find the Firefox add-on Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) useful. Utilizing their servers for storage (or a server of your choosing if you're paranoid about these sorts of things) it synchronizes your Firefox bookmarks on as many computers as you care to install it on. It also has the option for synchronizing your passwords; but that I am paranoid about, so I've never tried it. The bookmark syncing though, is a wonderful thing. It's become one of the three things I immediately add to Firefox on any computer I setup for myelf, along with Down Them All and Ad Block Plus.

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Over the weekend, I bought a pickup truck.



It has 320k miles on it and set me back 400 bucks. I've been wanting to get a second vehicle for a while, preferably a truck for the occasional hauling capacity. As tight as finances have been, I wasn't sure I'd be able to swing it, but the guy I bought it from is a good friend of my brother's and was willing to take some of the money now and some of it later. He even told me to not worry about putting myself in a bind and to just give him the rest whenever I could.

The motor seems solid but the transmission is a little flaky. Bajillions of S-10s have been made over the years and my brother does auto salvage as side-work, so keeping it running shouldn't be too much of a chore. If the transmission goes, I can just drop another one in.

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My other, youngest brother is relocating back to central Kentucky from eastern Kentucky. For the time being, he's going to crash in our basement until he decides where he's going to land. He's already secured employment in Frankfort and will be helping-out with some of the expenses when he can. I hope he decides to settle in Frankfort permanently. It'd be nice to have him in town. In the meantime, it's going to be a blast having him stay with us.

This morning, while being stupid and using the cheater bar in a way that is not intended, I banged the shit out of my shin. I put two big gashes in my skin. It hurt like hell, too. It feels better now, but there's a really gross mass of dried blood surrounding the wounds that I won't have an opportunity to clean-up until I get home tomorrow. I really should put together a small first aid kit to keep on the road with me.

I'm currently parked in Middlesboro, KY where I deliver in the morning, just a few miles from the Cumberland Gap. After I emtpy, I'm meeting a guy back in Corbin and taking his loaded trailer from him and heading home for the weekend. I'll start next week off in Asheville, NC on Monday.

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Yesterday I saw a girl who looked exactly like Shay Laren.



Though she wasn't as chesty. To make matters worse, she was probably only 15 or 16, which officialy makes me a dirty old man.

I didn't know they were remaking The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. I saw it on the marquee of the local theatre when I was home last weekend. If you don't know, the original was done in 1974 and starred Walter Matthau. The new movie has Denzel Washington in that role along with John Travolta, James Gandolfini, John Turturro, and Luis Guzman. Tony Scott is the director, who in the early 90s did a couple of my favorite action/crime movies, namely The Last Boyscout and True Romance. So this is promising, however, Scott hasn't made a watchable movie since '98's Enemy Of The State. So it'll probably suck.

Be sure to see the original, you won't be disappointed.


The other day I updated my master movie list with a bunch of new additions. I took those new additions and added some thoughts about some of them and have listed them below. If you feel like discussing any of them, fire away.

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I went back and added the names of the bands to my list of top 50 last.fm artists from the weekend, if you're interested.

Here's my last.fm top 50 in pictures. I'm not sure why I did this. I like band photos. There's something mesmerizing about them. Feel free to make guesses in the comments. I'd advise that you make your guesses before looking at the comments. I suspect some won't be guessed. I probably wouldn't get half of them if someone had posted them in their journal. If you're curious, the file names of the photos in most cases will give it away. Even if you're not interested in trying to guess, it's still a fun collection of photos.

1. Ramones


2. Dripping, Sopping: A Saturation Celebration (aka lossfound)


3.Modest Mouse


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This week I have a guest onboard, livejournal.friend wendy_sue. She's from the Bay Area, but has recently been living in Santa Rosa while learning to become a casino dealer. How cool is that? For several years now she has flirted with the idea of becoming a truck driver, and now that she's in the midst of a career change, it's at the forefront of her consideration. She flew out here on Monday and she's riding with me this week to see what the life is like. Unfortunately, given the nature of my current type of truck driving work, we've travelled all of 250 miles, haven't left Ohio, and have been sitting all morning waiting on load info.

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In the never-ending saga of how I am woefully ill-informed of current events: I didn't know Cramps frontman Lux Interior passed away. For that matter, I didn't realize he was two years older than my dad. Everyone has random memories they associate with music. For the Cramps, mine is a simple one from just a few years ago. I had gone to San Diego to visit an internet friend and fellow Beastie Boys afficionado, to see the Beastie Boys in concert. The next day, we got up and went for coffee, then she took me on a car-tour of her town. It was a typical brilliant and beautiful SoCal day and we rode around with the windows down listening to Songs The Lord Taught Us on the CD player. R.I.P. Lux. Thanks for the rock.

Word is Bond

I've decided that, once I've finished watching all of Hitchcock's movies, I'm going to tackle the James Bond franchise and watch them chronologically, in order of release. As a kid, I saw many of them because my dad was such a fan, but I'm sure there's many I've missed along the way, and I haven't seen ANY of the new Bond movies with Pierce Brosnan or that other dude. The last Bond film I saw was The Living Daylights with Timothy Dalton.

In preparation for this task I was surfing through various Bond-related websites and have come to the conclusion that, despite having arguably the best character name in any Bond film, if not all of cinema, that Honor Blackman was down-right mannish looking and not terribly attractive as Pussy Galore. By contrast, now in her early 80s, she has an elegance and beauty few women her age can muster.

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Fun Windows App #1: Circle Dock

Ever since Mac introduced the Dock interface, numerous incarnations have made their way to the Windows platform. Vista even comes packaged with its own inferior knock-off, Windows Sidebar. I think docks are pretty but I've never found them terribly useful. The real problem with docks is that they either a) take up screen real estate if they are set to be on top of everything else or b) they're not useful because they're under your open windows. The classic tag-team of the Windows Start button and the Quick Launch bar always avoided these two things and Docks simply didn't improve upon this setup, for me. That is, until I recently discovered CircleDock.



The major advancement CircleDock has, is a combination of its functionality and its shape. Since it's circular, it offers an equidistant travel, from dead center, to the icon of your choice. Why is this important? Because you can set it to remain hidden and brought into view, over everything you have open, centered under your mouse with a pre-defined keystroke or, as I prefer it, with a click of the third mouse button. When you click the icon/shortcut/folder you want, it is executed and CircleDock goes back into hiding. It's like being able to bring the quick launch bar to your mouse, anywhere on the screen with a single click. Since this elimintates the need for the quick launch bar, it frees-up real estate on your task bar for those zillion windows you have open. Of course, I'm hoping that a future release will allow Window minimizations to go to CircleDock like it does in RocketDock. Imagine being able to bring the entire task bar to your mouse!

There are lots of other cool features, some cosmetic, others practical. Probably the most powerful feature is the Dock Folder. Basically, it allows you to nest other CircleDocks inside the main one, sort of like subfolders on the Start menu. For instance, I could create a dock folder and name it "Music". When I click it, it takes me to a new CircleDock which I can populate with shortcuts to all of my music applications Winamp, TagandRename, Audacity, EAC, Reaper, etc. Also, while I have that Dock Folder chosen, it becomes the default CircleDock when I click the third mouse button, until I back out to the main dock (or navigate to another Dock Folder).

Best of all, it's open source and totally free.

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Fun Windows App #1a: Screensaver as Desktop

Some of you may have noticed that my Windows desktop looked suspiciously like a screensaver. That's because it is. It's a trick that can be achieved by manually changing some settings in Vista, but why do that when someone wrote a small app that'll do it for you and that you can configure to run at startup? Theoretically, you can render any screensaver onto your desktop as the background in Vista. In practice, it works better with some more than others. The only downside, and it's a fairly big one, is that you lose all functionality of your desktop: the animated background covers your "true" desktop, and therefore the icons. But since I use CircleDock, pffft... fuck desktop icons. With the Aero glass on the window frames and the transparent sidebar, the animated desktop looks cool as hell and the performance hit to system resources is negligible. I mean if you're running Aero and Sidebar, you're not suffering in the resources department anyway are you?

Some of you expressed interest in seeing the Zia McCabe Suicide Girls photo shoot if I managed to get hold of them. I managed. She's nekkid and preggers. Don't be opening this shit at work if it's going to get you in trouble.

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Microsoft has finally allowed POP access to thier Hotmail users, that is, those who didn't abandon them for Gmail 5 years ago. If, like me, you're still clinging to an old Hotmail address because you could've signed up for some porn website 12 years ago that you might need to retrieve your password to, you could be interested to know the details of how to set it up.

incoming: pop3.live.com (port 995, Security: SSL)
outgoing: smtp.live.com (require authentication, use TLS/SSL)

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Have you by chance seen the ThruYou project done by Kutiman? He took YouTube videos of amateur musicians and mixed/mashed them into new, original songs. For presentation, who also chopped-up and cut the video to approximate what he did sonically. It's a mesmerizing music/video album from start to finish. It's probably the single coolest and most ambitious thing I've seen done on the internet in a long, long time. Here's the first in the series of 7 songs he did.



You can find all of the videos individually on YouTube, just run a search for Kutiman. In the description of each, he provides links to the source material for each song. You can also check out all the songs on the ThruYou website linked above.