Rob’s blog of posts

This is going on in multiple simultaneous unconnected cases, so this is not directed at any one in particular. Call it a general refinement of policy brought on by circumstance. I’m definitely not looking for apologies or explanations or anything like that, so even if you think you may be among those involved, please hold off on commenting publicly on this post. Take it to email if you prefer.

Ahem..

If you’re a friend of mine, and you are having a disagreement with another friend of mine - on any level from minor web drama to earth-shattering personal real-world clashes of the titans - please, please, please get my permission before dragging my name into it.

Until further notice, the International Bank of Firefly has declared that my name retains a face value of precisely zero (0) debate points.

Offer void where prohibited. Local participation may vary. Use only genuine RTF parts. For more information, visit your local library.

So I’m sitting at work, sipping a lemon herbal tea from the Flavia machine in the breakroom.

I drink about two-thirds of it over half an hour or so, and then happen to look into the cup - and there’s a quarter at the bottom of my tea.

Twenty-five cents? In my fancy hot lemonade?
Apparently, it’s more likely than I thought.

Now I can be pretty sure it wasn’t in the cup already, as the cup was from a stack of upside-down disposable paper coffee cups of the sort one finds in corporate breakrooms next to Flavia machines, a stack which I had just replenished from a new sleeve. However, I’ve been away from my desk a few times, and the area is reasonably high-traffic, which means anyone could have dropped a coin into my drink if that’s their idea of a good time.

But why, though?

There is another possibility - the refrigerator in the breakroom has an ice dispenser, and I used it to put some ice in my tea. If the quarter was left for some reason in the works of the ice-maker, then I could concievably have been paid an ice-taking bonus at that point.

But why would someone leave a quarter in that thing?

Either way, it comes down to someone in this office having a strange way of sharing the wealth.

While writing this, I finished my drink and shook out the coin. Gross? Maybe a bit, but I really like this tea, and I had already been drinking coin-water for an unknown period of time so the damage was done.

If nothing else, I now have a bright shiny 1993-dated mystery quarter in my pocket. This is a good thing, because I frankly wasn’t expecting any sort of holiday bonus this year. I wonder what I shall spend it on.

I haven’t been much for exchanging holiday cards since, roughly speaking, ever. The last card I ever sent was probably something like “Dear Grandma, thank you for the underwear” written at age 10 under duress while my mother berated me for being an ungrateful bastard who should have jumped at the chance to spread such joy thoroughout the distant rotting branches of my family tree without being prompted.

I pretty much wholeheartedly agree with my dear friend Snowgrouse’s feelings on traditional cards. However, I also agree with my columnist superstar pal Ellis’s assertion that e-cards are just rubbish.

The blogosphere remains clogged with those “if you want a card/if you want to send me a card” posts, and while I usually scroll quietly past those, I just had sort of a neat, somewhat compatible, idea which has the side benefit of kick-starting my own slightly atrophied creative mojo.

So if you like, you can send me an email (rob at the usual domain dot net) with the phrase “Insert card substitute here” and I’ll respond with something digital yet original, made just for you. You’ll have the only copy, to do with as you please. I promise it won’t be more than a few minutes’ worth of work, so you can delete it without feeling guilty.

If you don’t send that email, but you’re in my address book, I may just send you one anyway. I’m rough and toothless tough and ruthless like that.

Happy holidays!

Best Buy apologized to Scott Beale for the C&D letter they sent him regarding Improv Everywhere’s parody shirts.

Speaking of IE, I’ve suddenly got a pressing need to ride the subway on January 12.

NYC-based comedy troupe Improv Everywhere is known for staging elaborate public pranks, including one last year in which their agents stormed a Best Buy store dressed as employees. Last month, Best Buy served Improv Everywhere with a Cease-and-Desist letter over an Improv Everywhere shirt inspired by the incident, which parodied Best Buy’s logo and uniform.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. Best Buy have also served blogger Scott Beale with a C&D, for merely blogging about the existence of the shirts.

I wonder if I’ll get hit with anything for blogging about the guy who blogged about the shirts.

Scott Kurtz, of webcomic PvP fame, has reposted an unfinished work of his which is the greatest two pages of Batman comic ever created by mortal hands.

Check it out here.

Boredom-killer from sam42:

-Go to the Wikipedia home page and click “random article.” That is your band’s name.
-Click “random article” again; that is your album name.
-Click “random article” 15 more times; those are the tracks on your album.

Band name: American Bicycle Company
Album name: Rathconrath

Album tracks:
1. Angel in My Pocket
2. Coin roll hunting
3. Middle-earth warfare
4. William Richardson (cricketer)
5. Consort Feng Yuan
6. Bealey River
7. KRUF
8. Epic Soundtracks
9. Dung beetle
10. Tooting (crater)
11. Tristesse de la Lune
12. Fighting game
13. Piruz Dilenchi
14. Japoteurs
15. Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg

Oddly enough, this sounds a lot like an album I’d own.

For episode 14 of their podcast, the crew at Aqua Teen Central decided to do a Sealab 2021 retrospective. Thanks to my shaky credentials as Sealab guru held over from the fansite I used to run, I was asked to be a guest on the show.

More info and a download link here.

I was just starting to recover from hay fever head-explody during recording (the same head-explody that caused me to miss a 2600 meeting for the first time in a couple of years) so I hope I don’t sound too crappy, but I had a really great time. Many thanks for having me on, folks!

…never get hay fever.

Especially if you’re already prone to migraines, and all the trees in your neighborhood picked now to drop leaves.

I feel like Ginger Baker, Keith Moon, and John Bonham are having a drumming contest in my head.

My bed is queen-sized.

The one birthday present I bought myself last month was a comforter, which is king-sized.

It’s like sleeping in a big, welcoming, fluffy nest.