rob vincent dot net

I turned 25 yesterday. It was basically quiet, which is good. I don't like having parties thrown for me, and I'm also not one of those people who goes around saying they don't like having parties thrown for them but secretly hopes to have parties thrown for them, I really don't like having parties thrown for me at all.

Grey came over for my birthday, and I helped her track down some Doritos since my local Doritos truckers are on strike or something...

Grey dropped me a happy birthday on the UPL board, and a bunch of my wacky Phone Loser pals chimed in and Happy Birthday'd me, making me feel all warm and fuzzy...

Scott hasn't known me very long, but he knows a fellow geek well enough to realize just how far a Radio Shack gift card can go. I collected quite a few nifty components I've had my eye on...

Sergey and Leo Happy Birthday'd me over the phone, and Sergey sent me one of his patented emails, making me feel all warm and gooey...

Matt, Dave, and Scott chipped in on a totally unexpected gift which has caused me to wonder if perhaps they have all somehow mistaken me for Milla Jovovich and are trying really hard to get on my good side in exchange for some walk-on roles in the next "Resident Evil" movie...

About four years ago, Fina gave me a wallet for my birthday. It was a really neat black vinyl one with a belt chain, which I really loved and used for the past four years. I happened to mention to her how it was getting a little frayed at the edges, and she suddenly presented me with a new identical wallet she had bought for herself at the time but never used. So now I have a new wallet exactly like my old wallet! Neatness abounds!!!

In other Fina news, Fina spent Monday with me at work, since school was out for veteran's day. She helps me to run the joint whenever she's around. Fina has great techniques for dealing with bitchy people, I bow to her skillz.

My mom keeps wanting to take me out to dinner, but immediately after pushing a 12 hour shift and preparing for a morning shift the next day is not really the best time to ask me.

My family and friends are insane! I love you all!!

Music - Coldcut

Mood - Tired as hell, but thrilled to be surrounded by the people I am, online and off.

I just bought my mom her first optical mouse for my birthday.

In other news, my job sucks. If anyone out there wants to hire me for anything, let me know!

Actually, it didn't suck too badly today. Fina was off school, so she went to work with me. I paid her in fast food, cookies, and beef jerky. She helped me deal with the stupid people who go to that mall. We also played catch with some of the prizes, which was neat.

Mood - Tired and old, but oddly content

Music - Miss Kittin and the Hacker - "Frank Sinatra"

To everyone who's been asking, the background on this page is David Byrne of the Talking Heads, in the video for "Once in a Lifetime."

I'm turning 25 soon. In lieu of gifts, prank call your local public schools for me.

Here's a fun anecdote for the geeks - I was optimizing a friend's Win98-based PC last week, getting rid of Windows' really hidden cache as described in jaw-dropping detail here, and discovered I couldn't use the DELTREE command. After poking around here and there, I discovered his WINDOWS\COMMAND folder was missing. As in, not there. Which means most of his DOS functionality was also not there. So I made him a self-extractor from my 98 install and tossed him a floppy. It's better now. But he was running for who knows how many years, with no DOS commands.

Sergey (aka Enamon) (aka "Hey, you!) got me started on this really neat, if hideously unstable, music software called Buzz. It's free, and worth every penny. Just remember to save often. I'm having fun with Information Society's sound library and this gadget.

Mood - About to pass out and go to work, in that order.

Music - Jumbles of home-brewn crap with neat Insoc orchestra hits, and a hideous overuse of the "Pure Energy" sample.

Comment by Grey - November 11, 2002 - 11:32 AM
RTF, you are so uber cool! I am your biggest fan!!

Love,
Grey

Reply - November 11, 2002 - 6:15 PM
You're the groovy one in our little merry band of cutthroat mercenaries, kiddo!

I just took my mom and Fina to see "Jackass - The Movie." If that ain't wholesome family bonding, I don't know what is.

Actually, no, I really don't know what is.

Fina and I got a kick out of laughing at the big stupid idiots, and my mom thinks they're latently homosexual due to their preoccupation with each other's naughty parts.

The quote of the day from my mom: "You know, I'm starting to really like chemicals in drugs."

She was discussing her job - she works for a medical supply company, and she gets to classify all sorts of stuff in their computer system. As a result, she finds herself absorbing an insane amount of knowledge about the industry, and what chemicals are in which drugs.

We get a kick out of the abbreviations for some of their devices; a three-way valve assembly was entered into the system as "3 way ass valve."

Out of sheer curiosity, Fina and I got a hold of the Missy Elliott song "Work It" and reversed the backmasked speech. The one line she keeps repeating in the chorus is "Put my thing down, flip it,and reverse it." In the middle of the song, there's another backmasked line, which is "Watch the way Missy like to take it back off."

This is probably old news, but I'm no Missy Eliott fan, so I'm not about to check. Actually, I can't look at her without wanting to throw something heavy at her.

Fina also subjected me to the new Christina Aguilera video. I guess she's really, like, serious about this whole hardcore thing. Intercourse her with a chainsaw, I say! And I'm glad I said it.

Comment by Enamon - November 8, 2002 - 7:47 PM
Yeah I did that reverse thing too about a week ago. On the second one she says "Watch the way Missy like to take it backward." instead of "Watch the way Missy like to take it back off."
Also I think somewhere further down there is another reversal which, when flipped, reveals Missy to be saying something like "I am the harbinger of death and destruction all shall perish in hellfire pillsborough dough boy pillsborough dough boy paul is dead". Of course I don't think that one is deliberate.

And as for chainsaw intercourse with Christina Aguilera, it's Xtina now I believe and just like my "video closet" she's now only legal in 48 states.

Reply - November 8, 2002 - 10:25 PM
That'll teach me to toy with the cosmic forces of Missy Elliott and Xtina Acromeglia.

I've been listening to the new ICP album for a few days. This is the sort of thing that is likely to cause huge controversy and flame wars in online fandom, but since I'm not really involved in online ICP fandom I can just come out and say I really really like it. I can't wait for the other half to come out in a year!

"Punch Drunk Love" - Weird, wacky movie. It's got all the guts of the best indies, but it isn't. It's really aggravating to watch, but it's compelling enough to keep you watching regardless. Adam Sandler is not nearly as annoying as he usually is, and the story will hook you.

I drank a milkshake and three or four glasses of water last night at the diner. My sleep was interrupted more than once last night as a result.

Yesterday I was so bored at work that I started writing a poem about this one joke of a guy I used to know and his odd girlfriend (who was all bitchy at me the first time we met, even though she doesn't know me.) It mutated into a rap song as I was writing it. I may have to actually record it in order to get it out of my system. That may not work though, because only decent feuds can be conducted through the medium of rap music, and those two fignuts don't qualify.

But I have been experimenting with music lately. Who knows? I may release an album.

Scott got his hair and part of his finger dyed. It looks neat.

I've started getting emails about my Halloween photos. Lots of people seem awed that someone my age even knows who Groucho Marx is, let alone considers him a hero. What can I say?

Mood - Yakko

Music - The Wraith - Shangri La

I took a day off from life, and did a little work on my site. I completed two new transcripts for my Sealab 2021 page - episode 10 and a Maxim commercial. I also put up a gallery of neat pictures that my pals Leo and Sergey took during our Halloween festivities. I like that Groucho outfit! I'm going to have to think of some way to use it again before next Halloween. I've got plenty of face paint and hair spray left. Feel free to suggest something!

Yesterday I tried Vice City. It's all that and more! And I want the soundtracks, even though I already have most of the music. How's that for 80's-style excess? And I ran, I ran so far awaaayy...

Tomorrow is Election Day. Fear. Here's Michael Moore's tips on how to beat the GOP. Speaking of three-letter acronyms, the new ICP album is released tomorrow. Clown love to all!

On Wednesday I have a date with someone amazingly special to me. This is a date I've been asking for for ages, for which I was repeatedly shot down because of a botched definition of a word. That really got to me when I found that out, but I say if life weren't interesting every chance it got, it wouldn't be worth living! Excelsior!

Mood - The kind of content buzzing one can only get from 12 hours of sleep

Music - Grandmaster Flash

Fina, Leo, Sergey and I made it to the Halloween Parade last night. I was dressed as Groucho, Fina was her badass evil nurse self, Sergey was a Catholic priest complete with Bible, and Leo dressed in a white biohazard suit and big one-piece goggles and resembled one of the old Intel mascots.

Marching in the parade was loads of fun! Fina was an expert at working the crowds, I bow to her skills. My Groucho impression was in full swing. One highlight of the evening was when a small child, maybe five or six years old, smiled a huge smile and called out "Groucho Marx!" to me. At his age! It's amazing. "Groucho" gave him a big high-five and an eyebrow-waggle in response.

I also got hugged by a strange woman in the crowd, but my sister got a better one. And, lots of other paraders asked me to pose with photos of them. I hugged qutie a lot of drag queens last night!

There was another Groucho at the parade, who brought a Chico with him. Together they were performing the contract scene from "A Night at the Opera." What a great couple of guys! We traded Groucho-isms for a bit, and as I told him, "You've got this guy with you, and I'm stuck with an evil nurse. I'm not sure which one of us came out ahead!"

There were lots of news photographers there, too. I'm poking around the news sites now to se if we ended up on any of them.

Sergey came out to Long Island with Fina and I, and his priest outfit turned out more useful than he thought. The conductor never asked him for his ticket.