Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Torino Bound

For those of you who remember Athens, you might remember that the last "Picture of the Day" was one of Ned Jackson...



Well...

I'm off to Torino, and from what I've been hearing, it is colder than a Titches Wit.
Hope I can find something warm to take with me to wear.

Speaking of Torino, let me introduce the Torino 2006 Crew:

Daryl "Ned Flanders" Carson
Stass "The Nyet-worker" Iordanov
Silent Bob Lanham (a/k/a - The Apostle)
Smilin' Dave Kananen
Susan "Greek Killer" Walker
Lacey Koerner (Olympics Rookie 1)
Mark Moore (Olympics Rookie 2)
Mitch "The Regulator" Mitchell
and Yours Truly, The Rotten Bastard.

Once I'm on-site and get my venue set up, I'll have the webcam running.
You can reach it from the main page, the eyeball on the top left side...

WEBCAM




So for the next couple days while I'm in transit, let me give you some stuff to check out...

Dry Tortugas - Jan 2006
Some pics from my last visit to The Island.

Pics from Torino & Venice.
From December 2005.

One of my favorite toy stores...
Thinkgeek.


For a unique view of the news of the day...
The Shanghai Daily.

That should keep you for a while.

Later-

TBG Out.

Top Ten reasons...

JWI suggested this might be appropriate fodder for the 'Blog...
Thanks Jim...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Top Ten reasons why Men prefer guns over Women :

  • #10. You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.
  • #9. You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you're on the road.
  • #8. If you admire a friend's gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times.
  • #7. Your primary gun doesn't mind if you keep another gun for a backup.
  • #6. Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.
  • #5. A gun doesn't take up a lot of closet space.
  • #4. Guns function normally every day of the month.
  • #3. A gun doesn't ask , "Do these new grips make me look fat?"
  • #2. A gun doesn't mind if you go to sleep after you use it.

    And the number one reason a gun is favored over a woman....

  • #1. YOU CAN BUY A SILENCER FOR A GUN
TBG Out-

Thursday, January 26, 2006

More Questions?

There is a certain faction of people out there that are trying to drive me nuts.
(Don't act innocent, you know who you are...)

Look, I'm not Alex Trebek, and I'm not buzzing my answer button...No more questions.

Haven't you people ever imagined a world with no hypothetical questions?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Here are the questions, supply your own smart-assed answers:


If a General is a higher ranking officer than a Major, then why is a major illness worse than a general illness?

When an atheist swears on a Bible before they testify in court do they have to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth since they don't believe in God?

If a pack of gum says that each piece is 10 calories, is that amount just chewing the gum, or also for swallowing it?

Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs.

How come only your fingers and toes get wrinkly in the shower and nothing else does?

Doesn't a lightning rod on top of church show a lack of faith?

Are there pink lemons that make pink lemonade?

Why do we say "heads up" when we actually duck?

When a store has double doors why do they only let you use one of them?

If there was a crumb on the table and you cut it in half, would you have two crumbs or two halves of a crumb?

What was Captian Hook's name before he had a hook for a hand?

Why is it that when adults have multiple personalities it's schizophrenia, but when a child has imaginary friends it's cute?

Can you put a gay man in a straight jacket?

Do stairs go up or down?

Do coffins have lifetime guarantees?

If "Hooters" were to become a door-to-door delivery service would they have to change their name to "Knockers"?

When French people swear do they say "Pardon my English"?

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken over there... I'm gonna eat the first thing that comes out if its butt"?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet soup?

Why is it illegal to park in a handicapped parking space but its ok to use a handicapped toilet?

Why is it that if something says, "do not eat" on the packaging it becomes extra tempting to eat?

Wouldn't it be smart to make the sticky stuff on envelopes taste like chocolate?

Why isn't chocolate considered a vegetable, if chocolate comes from cocoa beans, and all beans are a vegetable?

Why is it when we talk to God we are praying, but when God talks to us we are put into the loony bin?

Why did Mary own a little lamb?

If a missing person sees their picture on a milk carton that offers a reward, would they get the money?

Is Jerry Garcia grateful to be dead?

How come popcorn isn't a vegetable?

Why do they put the names of football teams on baseball caps?

If I had my legs amputated, would I have to change my height and weight on my driver's license?

How come you pay an extra 25 cents to get something put on your hamburger but they don't take off the price if you get something taken off?

Do pyromaniacs wear blazers?

Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?

Since a running back runs forward, why is he called a running back?

Why do they call the small candy bars the "fun sizes"? Wouldn't be more fun to eat a big one?

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to "put your two cents in" but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going too ?

How come you can kill a deer and put it on your wall but it's illegal to keep one as a pet?

What do vegetarians feed their dogs?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

If a man has no fingers, can he press charges?

Why do people say, "you've been working like a dog" when dogs just sit around all day?

Why isn't the word 'gullible' in the dictionary?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up every two hours?

Why is it when we ask for the check in a restaurant they bring us a bill?

Why do they call him a Skipper when he just stands there?

Why does "lake" come first (Lake Michigan) and "river" come second (Mississippi River)?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

Can't anybody who has a job go in the "employees only" doors at restaurants? Shouldn’t they be more specific and say "employees of this place only"?

What is the parking situation like at the Special Olympics?

Why do they put Canadian bacon on Hawaiian Pizza?

How come we choose from just two people for President and fifty for Miss America?

How come when you go in the front door of a church, you are at the back of the church, and if you go in the back door, you would end up in the front of the church?

Why is Bra singular and Panties plural?

If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?

What does the T in T-Shirt really mean?

How can someone be dirt poor, and another be filthy rich?

Do cemetery workers prefer the graveyard shift?

Why do black olives come in cans and green olives come in jars

Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?

Do dumped farmers get John Deere letters?

Why do they call them "Animal Crackers" when there not even crackers...they're cookies?

How do you throw away a garbage can?

Why in baseball is it called the World Series if it is only played in the U.S.A & Canada?

Why are things typed up but written down?

Why is it called a TV set when there is only one?

If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?

Why do they call it an escalator if it takes you down?

Why do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?

If croutons are stale bread, why do they come in airtight packages?

Why is the third hand on the watch called second hand?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

What do people in China call their good plates?

Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but people don't point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Can good looking Eskimo girls be called hot?

Do sore thumbs really stick out?

Why does Bugs bunny walk around the cartoon naked, but puts a bathing suit on when he goes swimming?

Can you make cheese out of human breast milk?

Why is it called butterfingers when there is no butter or fingers in it?

If Pringles are "so good that once you pop, you can't stop" why do they come with a resealable lid?

Why do you click on start to exit Microsoft Windows?

Have you ever wondered why Trix are only for kids?

Why is a person that handles your money called a BROKER?

Why do they have handicap parking spaces in front of they skating rings?

Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?

If a Man is talking in the forest and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?

If Barbie is so popular, then why do you have to buy her friends?

Why do they call it an asteroid when its outside the hemisphere but call it a hemorrhoid when its in your ass?

Can atheists get insurance for acts of God?

Could someone ever get addicted to counseling? If so, how could you treat them?

Did you ever notice when you blow in a dog's face he gets mad at you? But when you take him in a car, he sticks his head out the window!

How do they get a deer to cross at that yellow road sign?

If an orange is orange, why isn't a lime called a green or a lemon called a yellow?

How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't grow in it?

If a bus station is where a bus stops, and a train station is where a train stops, why do I have a work station on my desk?

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
If you ate pasta and anti-pasta, would you still be hungry?

Should crematoriums give discounts for burn victims?

What is the speed of dark?

When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there, staring at carpeting?

Why are builders afraid to have a 13th floor but book publishers aren't afraid to have a Chapter 11?

Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?

Why aren't there bulletproof pants?

Why do we put suits in a garment bag and garments in a suitcase?

Why doesn't "onomatopoeia" sound like what it is?

Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?

---------------

OK.... Are you happy now?

TBG Out.

Monday, January 23, 2006

I'm going to die...

This really doesn't suprise me...


You scored as Disappear. Your death will be by disappearing, probably a camping trip gone wrong or an evening hike you never returned from. Always remeber that one guy who was hiking alone and got in a rock slide. He could have died, but he cut his own hand off to save himself. Don't end up like him (or worse, dead).

Gunshot


100%

Disappear


100%

Stabbed


87%

Suffocated


73%

Eaten


67%

Posion


60%

Suicide


60%

Accident


53%

Bomb


47%

Natural Causes


40%

Cut Throat


33%

Drowning


33%

Disease


27%

How Will You Die??
created with QuizFarm.com

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Award Shows

Y'know something that really gets my knickers in a twist?

Entertainment Industry award shows.

We're right in the middle of the Award Show season...
The Golden Globes, the SAG awards, the Obies, the Emmys, the LA Film Critics Awards, the Grammys (and Latin Grammys), the ESPYs, the Tonys, MTV's Music Video Awards, and of course, the Academy Awards...
(With all the different people out there throwing statuettes at each other, if you don't win something this year, your agent just isn't trying hard enough.)

It really turns my stomach to see the Hollywood glitterati gladhanding each other, giving themselves awards, dressing in the most tasteless manner...
It just makes me ill.
And to top it all off, there are TV shows about the shows, and there are TV shows about what happens before the show, and of course, shows about what goes on at the parties after the shows...

Award shows, in general, are an excuse to self-publicise...
Do we see this in any other industry?
What if all the car makers got together and gave each other awards every year?
"And the award for the best body style of 2005 goes to... Isuzu, for the new Eclipse!!"
How about chefs?
"And in the Best Rack of Lamb catagory, the nominees are..."
You don't see this kind of thing in NORMAL businesses, because the award you get when you do a good job is that people BUY your product or service...
If you don't do a good job you go out of business or lose your job, or whatever.

In the Entertainment Industry, if you don't get the award, or worse, don't get nominated, God forbid, it is cause for some world class pouting...and let me tell you, that is one crowd that is capable of putting on a serious act of being offended if they think they are being dissed... And for all the gushing sincerity you see when they are accepting their chrome plated bijou, remember that these people are ACTORS, ferchrissake! There isn't a real and sincere bone in their bodies... They make a living by ACTING sincere... So as they are up at the poduim thanking their moms and their dogs and their stockbrokers and bartenders, all they are trying to do is to prolong their time in the spotlight-
"I hope everyone can see how good I am looking, and how well I can act... I need another job this year."

Hey, Hollywood!
If your film/show/play/whatever is worthwhile, we'll go see it.
We don't need to hear clip after clip of pre-show buildups and shameless self-promotion in the weeks leading up to the show... and I could give a shit how many many times you've been nominated, or how many awards you've got, or how many times your have been snubbed.

Geez... I'm surprised I don't blow a gasket just watching all the crap as the cover it on the news... As if it were actually someting important...
"Three dead in Iraq today, two hundred killed in chemical spill- But first! The Oscar nominees are announced! Here's the live report from Hollywood..."

TBG out. (Reading a book. Try it some time.)

(What book? This week's read is Malcom Lowry's Under the Volcano.)

Saturday, January 14, 2006

FAQ - Tortugas Edition

Frequently Asked Questions - Tortugas Edition.

Q: Hot enough for ya?
A: Nope. I want it so hot that all the visitors melt as they step off the boat.

Q: Is that Cuba? (Pointing to Loggerhead Key)
A: Yep. That lighthouse is the harbor light for Havana.

Q: How far are we from Havana, Cuba?
A: 24,770 miles. (I prefer going via the polar route.)

Q: Are the Cuban Refugees that get here allowed to stay?
A: Yep. We issue each of them a tent and they are all now living in the campground.

Q: Are these migratory islands?
A: Yes. They spend the winter in South America, returning here each spring..

Q: Where is the best place to snorkle?
A: Well... You can start by getting the the water.

Q: Where is the water?
A: Pick a direction and start walking.

Q: Can I snorkle without getting in the water?
A: Sure. Go see the folks at Capt. Ricks Rent-a-Sub out by the dock... They'll set you right up. It's right next to the Starbucks.

Q: Has anyone ever fallen off the top of the fort?
A: Sure. Want to be next?

Q: Why are there fish in the moat?
A: They got tired of living in the campground with the Cuban Refugees.

Q: If you guys have DirecTV, how come my cell phone won't work out here?
A: You need a better phone.

Q: What did they do with the dead bodies? (Soldiers/prisoners who died from yellow fever)
A: Catapults. We used the catapults.

Q: How do y'all get out here every morning?
A: We take the tunnel from Key Wast.

Q: Do you live out here?
A: Just barely.

Q: What do you eat?
A: We exist on solely on SANDwiches...

Q: Are there Rangers here?
A: Yes- 4 Park Rangers, 2 Power Rangers, 3 Rescue Rangers, and one Texas Ranger.

Q: Are there any animals here?
A: Only the ones who come out on Sunny Days or the Yankee Freedom.

Q: Where are all the pretty fish?
A: Oops. I forgot to turn on the Pretty Fish machine...

Q: Are there turtles here?
A: No. But we have some nice pralines and truffles.

Q: Do the turtles eat marshmallows?
A: Yes, but, there is a similar issue to the problem of birds eating rice from weddings...
Just imagine the same kind of thing with turtle shell shrapnel flying everywhere when one goes off...

Q: Where do you keep the pelicans at night?
A: They are sent back to Key West on the Yankee Freedom and Sunny Days every afternoon.

Q: What do the sooty terns sound like at night?
A: Well, one night last June I sat out on the dock and listened to them over on Bush Key...
The noise was similar to a moving van full of waffles running over a herd of donkeys.

Q: Will my iPod work out here?
A: Yes, but it will only play Jimmy Buffet tunes and Calypso music.

TBG out-

Monday, January 09, 2006

Current Events

So... A quick recap of the last few days:

Friday- No Boats came out from Key West. Weather was pretty bad- 30 knot winds, gusts into the 40s. I had 6 campers: a guy and a girl from Philadelphia- very low-maintenance folks, and 4 guys from Croatia (I think) who were ill-prepared for bad weather.
I tried to warn them on Thursday that the boats might not be running for a couple days, but they wanted to stick it out. They were relying on their survival skills to procure food- fishing off the dock for snappers- and not doing well at it.
They had plenty of water and beer but no food...
By Friday afternoon they were worried- it didn't look good for boats on Saturday either. Winds were still high and the tempature was dropping.
We called Sunny Days And Yankee- they said the jury was still out for Saturday and to call back in the morning.
Saturday was still windy and cold (67 degrees) but one of the boats was coming out- I believe it was only because of the campers... they only had 12 people on the boat.
No campers on Saturday night- and both boats came out Sunday, and still no campers. Hooha!
We decided to try to prep the 7 chugs on the seaplane ramp to be removed by the cargo boat, so I have been spending most of my time mucking out the chugs and removing the trash to the burn pile, and removing the engines from the boats themselves...

(Click for larger pic)

The chugs are made to survive the trip across the gulfstream, a one-way trip, so they are built to make it- not to be deconstructed, so it is a huge effort to get the things apart...
It is kind of a backwards "Junkyard Wars"...



Monday- We're almost finished prepping the chugs- 2 motors left to pull. We've removed about 25 gallons of diesel fuel and several huge trash barrels of old clothes, shoes, food and other miscellaneous garbage.
Both boats are running today- probably 60 visitors on the island today...
And the best news- no campers on the boats today.

Another quiet night on the Tortugas...

TBG out-

Friday, January 06, 2006

Ugly weather

No boats today...

I was out on Dawn Patrol at about 6:30 this morning, scanning for chugs.
On the way out I checked the weather station- Wind steady in the high 20s, gusts up to 38mph. 65 degrees. Not pretty.
I called Sunny Days & the Yankee, they aren't coming.
Hoo ha!

So... No Migrants, No visitors, probably no seaplanes either, due to the high winds.

I'm cleaning the bathrooms, then heading back to my quarters.

TBG Out.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Chugs-R-Us

Another load of Migrants this AM... A small chugboat arrived on Long Key at 6:50am.
(Fortunately we were already up and loading recyclables on the Park supply boat for transport back to Key West.)

Let's look at the scoreboard...

Dec 30 - 15
Dec 31 - 13
Jan 1 - 22
Jan 2 - 12
Jan 3 - 0 <--- WTF?
Jan 4 - 34
Jan 5 - 13

So... 107 in the last 7 days.
And if you are curious about the gender breakdown,
103 Men, 4 women.


(Scoring courtesy of Swiss Timing)

TBG Out-

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Don't molest the wildlife.

One of our campers came up to me yesterday morning...
They had accidently dropped a dive mask off the dock where the ferries park and wanted to try to retrieve it before the boats arrived for the day.
"No problem," I told them, "but just be aware of the Goliath Grouper under the dock."

"Really? Are they dangerous?" they asked.
"Well... They're big.. The biggest one is about 275lbs."
"Wow. Do they attack? I mean, would they bite?" they asked.
"Uh... Well, they'll attack...But it's not what you're thinking."
They gave me a puzzled look.
"It's their mating season. If you're attacked, fake an orgasm."

They didn't try to get the mask.

TBG Out-

Monday, January 02, 2006

Got Chug?

It's been busy-busy-busy out here...

We've had migrants 4 nights in a row now- 15 on the 30th, 13 on the 31st, 22 on the 1st, and 12 this morning.
Our goodwill is wearing a little thin now, along with a lot of other things.
We're almost out of supplies of spare clothes, extra food, etc that we need to deal with the migrants. We've been scavenging the leftovers from Sunny Days' and Yankee Freedom's lunch buffet to take to the migrants so they have at least a little something to eat...
Today's group arrived at sunup this morning, but the Coast Guard won't be able to get them until tomorrow AM...
There will probably be a new group on shore tomorrow anyway, so it's just as well...

It's getting so bad that when we hear the radio in the early morning hours we already know what the content of the message will be...
This morning's radio conversation was indicative of our situation:

Just after dawn this morning we heard,
"200, 200, this is Loggerhead."
The volunteers on Loggerhead Key were calling in...
"How many?" was Willy's only reply, the resignation in his voice came through almost tangibly on the radio. He already knew what they were calling in for...
"200, 200... We have 12, 10 men, 2 women. Came in on a chug on the southeast shore."
Long pause.
"Loggerhead...{heavy sigh} Yeah- we'll be over shortly."

The machine was set in motion; Calls would be made to the Coast Guard, food and medical supplies would be secured and transported to Loggerhead; the migrants would be searched and pre-processed for the trip to Key West and from there to Krome.

Just another day in paradise.
62 migrants in 4 days...
Do the math.


TBG Out.

Saturday, December 31, 2005

DRTO

DRTO, better known to all and sundry as the Dry Tortugas.

Well... Yes, I have been remiss.
I’ve been here several days and no posts.
Sorry.

Hopefully this will give you an idea what’s been going on.

Arrived here on the 27th of December. Heard there was a boatload of Cuban migrants on Christmas Day, so I guess the variable winter weather really hasn’t stemmed the influx.

The place was hit hard this season...

Compared to this shot from June...

All the trees have pretty much been stripped of every bit of leaf and twig, and most of the palms are dead or dying.

The morning of the 30th was pretty cool.
I’ve never seen ground fog in the parade ground before.




I also shot a couple photos of sunrise over Long Key.


A pair of our campers came over and asked if Bush Key and Long Key were closed to visitors; I told them that the islands were closed and they said that was odd, because there was a number of people walking around on the far side of Long Key.
Lovely.
Either I have a bunch of intrepid explorers from the campground or a sailboat, or we have a chug on Long Key.
I rousted the Rangers and we spend the morning dealing with the 15 Cubans who had arrived. Eventually we took them to Loggerhead Key to await pickup by the Coast Guard later last night.
We spent the rest of the day dealing with the chug- getting if off Long Key and taken back to the Chugpile.

This morning, at about 3:00 am, we had 13 more arrive on Loggerhead Key. Too bad the Coast Guard couldn’t have waited a little longer, they could picked them all up at once.

Other than that, things have been pretty sedate here… The campground has been full almost every night, and tonight is no exception... More than full tonight… We have all 8 sites full, plus 2 tents in the group site, and 2 in the overflow site.

Things will calm down in the next day or so, once the holiday is over...

More later

TBG out-

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Who is Ned?

What? You don't know Ned?

I have received several e-mails inquiring as to the identity of the person referred to as Ned in various locations in the 'blog...

Daryl Carson- our fearless leader and project manager for the Olympics project is commonly referred to as Ned... As in Flanders... From the Simpsons.
(Getting this yet?)

Why? you ask...
Excellent question.

There is a rumor going around that Daryl and Ned are twins that were separated at birth in a freak accident at the hospital where they were born...

Need further proof?
No problem.


As Ned would say... "Well, if that don't put the 'dink' in 'coinkidink!'"


DNA tests are pending.

TBG Out-

Saturday, December 24, 2005

In review...

Greeetings, Constant Readers.

I have just been reviewing the last couple months of bloggage and I have come to the following realization...

There is an EXTREMELY fine line between eccentricity and complete madness.

And sometimes is is really easy to see which side of the line one resides on...

TBG out-

Merry Christmas...

...Not "Happy Holidays" or some other watered-down PC horse shit.
I hope y'all have a wonderful Christmas with friends and family...

Just in case you haven't seen it, this is my favorite
version of "Carol of the Bells".

Getting down to the wire here...
I head to the Tortugas on Monday.
(Well... Key Weird on Monday, DRTO on Tuesday AM.)

TBG Out-

Friday, December 23, 2005

Blondes in Italy

It has been said,
"In Italy, if a girl is blonde, she can have a face like a truck."

Based on in-depth evaluation, personal interviews, and tireless research in varied venues, TBG Regional Research, LLC, is proud to present the following scientific results:

This is the ugliest girl in Italy.


Travel packages and tickets to the 2006 Winter Olympics are still available...

TBG Out-

Inside Humor

Now...
I'm not going to mention any names here, but I have kept silent
(on this subject anyway) long enough.

What happens when you mix more than one entire bottle of wine (La Lepre - The Fuzzy Leper), white truffles with cheese and beef, and a former resident of the former Soviet Union?

We could make a movie or a TV show of it...
"The Night of the Truffles"... or maybe "The Troubles with Truffles", or more accurately perhaps "The Return of the Truffles".

Whatever you want to call it, it is still bad form to blow chunks all over someone's car (inside and out) and not (at the absolute least) clean it up. No one riding in that car wanted to see the wine and truffles a second time that evening... Especially when someone else has to drive that car around for several more days.

What is that old saying?

What goes around, comes around.

TBG Out-
(And plotting retribution.)

Biggest Improvement: Athens 2004 to Torino 2006

So...

The biggest improvement in the Games from Athens to Torino...

It's not the scoring technology, its not the food...
Nor the fact that we don't need air conditioners blasting away 24/7...

It is the fact that you can flush toilet paper.

(For a recap of Athens, click here.)

TBG out-

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Fun on the Menu / Signs of the Apocalypse

Rejoyce, I have yet again returned to the land of the living, bearing stories and pictures from foreign restaurant menus...

I took off for a couple days and the Traveling Companion and I hit the streets of Venice to have a little look around.

First impression: Hey- they have to do something about handling the storm runoff- the streets were full of water!
We were able to deal with it, but Hertz is gonna be pissed because parking the rental car on the curb at the hotel was a bit of a problem...

Let's step back a bit and talk about some goofy stuff.

Traveling Companion and Yours Truly went up to the Lake Como region (to Como and Torno) and nosed about on Saturday... Very nice place- a tad windy while we were wandering the streets, but overall very cool little towns. I'll bet summertime there is wonderful.


Como, facing back on the road from Torno.

As we wandered the streets TC & YT found a little street market where the TC picked up a hat, which would prove necessary for survival later in the week...
There was the requisite shopping for, and the eventual bargaing for said hat... a story in itself. Interesting in comparison to Shanghai...Nobody pawing at you every ten seconds trying to sell you DVDs and Rolexes...
As that purchase progressed, I was drawn to a capsule station in the market...
You are familiar with the gumball vending machine, but in Europe and Asia, you would be amazed at the stuff you find in these things.

This thing was amazing for two reasons...
First, it was selling thong panties for 2 Euros a pop, second, the actual name on the machine (Big Balls) was, well, overdescriptive for the machine, but perhaps more indicative of the user...


Oh well... Onward.

TC and YT were off after a short jaunt around the lake- we headed toward Verona...

I like traveling in Italy on the Autostrada...
I'm doing 160kph and people are still passing me like I'm not pedaling fast enough.


Some distance (I'm not exactly sure- I don't have a real grasp using Kilometers for distance... We were either 90 miles or 90 feet away) from Verona we ran into a smog bank. We were in a farming area and the smell was horrible- Since "smog" is by definition a mixture of smoke and fog, I was tempted to refer to this colloidal suspension as "smit", due to the mix of smoke and airborne animal feces...
We decided to continue until we were able to breathe outside air without the aid of self-contained breathing apparatus.
We eventually arrived in Vicenza- a cool little town an hour or so from Venice.
After wandering around the town for an hour or so we had a nice dinner and found a hotel... We made plans to visit some of the tourist attractions then next day and hit the sack.

We visited the Olympic Theater the next day- a place designed by Andrea Palladio- pretty much everything in Vicenza was designed and built by Palladio- from all the buildings and street layouts to the recipes for cappucino and tiramisu, if you want to believe the locals.
Read a little about the Teatro Olimpico here...

We finally departed Vicenza- a bit reluctantly, but we wanted to get to Venice before high tide... and in short order we were stashing the car at Tronchetto and hopped a water taxi to St Marks Square.
Our hotel was about a block west from San Marco- the perfect distance and direction from San Marco- Quiet and out of the way, but still close enough to be able to get around quickly.
Quickly was important because it was cold! I mean, make-sure-you-bring-the-Brass-Monkey-in-from-the-back-porch cold...
TC was fortunate in acquiring the hat in Como...Frostbite on the top of your head is nothing to sneer at.
(YT's cranium is protected by a veneer of thin blonde hair and sunglasses, both worn 24/7...)

While YT was in Turin and while in Venice, I had the occasion to see new and interesting items for the Fun on the Menu series...

Here are some of them:


A LARD pizza? I guess that's why it's white...


3.5 Euros for Baby... Has to be some kinda law against that...


Tarts...Hmmm... Pimping out his daughters?


Boned steak... I really don't want to know what is going on back in the kitchen...


Why do you need a Rocket to go along with this steak?


And even though I got to see this dish, I still don't know why it is "Telephone style".


I asked if this was like the Smock in Turin, but the waiter didn't understand.


I thought this was just truth-in-advertising; they spit in everything here...


And if you have to ask what kind of cream it is...


...it's Man Cream.

Hey- In Torino-
I found a store where you can get your own Hooters waitress...
Bimbo World!



One last one... A sign from San Marco...

Pretty much says it all...

"Yo! Ugly American! Keep your clothes on!"

I hear this all the time.

More later...

TBG out-

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

FGA

FGA

Frequently Given Answers - Torino edition.

1. Trust me.
2. The developers haven't finished writing that part of the software yet.
3. No.
4. NO!
5. 193 Centimeters. 195 when I get angry.
6. No, I don't have a perscription.
7. I'm so poor I should be asking you for money.
8. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
9. I have a low tolerance for stupidity in others. Don't get on my bad side.
10. Forty-Two, maybe fifty.
11. I was out of the country when that happened. Couldn't have been me.
12. But if I tie it looser, that'll defeat the purpose.
13. I'm not authorized to release that information.
14. If the Clorox doesn't get it, try a mixture of lemon juice and muriatic acid.
15. Define "work".
16. You'll break your mother's heart.
17. I got it done when I was in at Parris Island.
18. When hell freezes over.
19. Because the world would be a lot better off it things were done my way all the time.
20. I mailed it yesterday. It should be there by the end of the week.
21. I ran out of money/time/patience/handcuffs.
22. No, honestly. I can't taste the freezer burn.
23. Why don't you give me YOUR wallet instead.
24. It will be ok, I promise. I saw this in a cartoon.

TBG Out-

Fun with names.

This is only funny is you work with player or competitor names and rosters, and have had the pleasure of dealing with Asian names.

You probably already know this, but in Asian names the family name is first, then the given name.

Example: One of the venue tech guys for Snowboarding has a family name of Wan, and his given name is Wei.
So his full name is "Wan Wei" (Pronounced, I'm not kidding, "One Way"...) and we call him "Wei". Got it?

So... As happens quite often, when programmers write software to parse and display names, they overlook the possibility of Asian names being mixed in with Western names. For a long time the displays for the Houston Rockets showed Ming Yao rather than Yao Ming...

A tech support call comes in from one of the venues.
"Hey Ned, all the Asian names are coming out backwards."
Meaning, instead of being the correct order, our man Wei's name would be appearing as "Wei, Wan".
Having seen this many many times, it is an easy fix.
Unless Ned is taking your call... In which case he wants to have a little fun at someone else's discomfort.
(As I have said many times, Finding humor in someone else's trouble or embarrasment is the basis of all comedy.)
"What?! The names are backwards?" Ned asks.
"Yeah, backwards." says the caller.
"Hmmm... I want to be sure I understand what you mean. You are not being very precise."
"What do you mean, I'm not precise. The names are backwards."
"Do you mean the name 'Wang' is displaying as 'Gnaw'? Becuase that is backwards. Or do you mean the names are displayed in the wrong order? Because that is a completely different problem."
Ned excels at making the callers unsure of themselves.
"Uh... Yeah." comes the reply. "Is there someone else there I can talk to?"

Ned can be a real Funny Guy sometimes...

GTB Out-

From our "Lessons Learned" department:

After the Postage Stamp Incident, you would think that we would have our collective act together and be aware of what kind of vending machines we are patronizing.

To wit: The Parking Validation Machine.

To use this device, one parks in an appropriate location, goes to the machine and purchases a ticket for whatever length of time he wants to park his car. The ticket is then placed on the dashboard of the car and then the parking fascists know to bypass said auto voiture and move along to the next victim of poor timing.

However, in this case, Ned, our fearless leader parked his machine at the curb, ambled over to the nearest machine and stuffed in a few Euros.

Moments later 3 condoms and a bottle of Astroglide popped out the slot of the machine.


Ned didn't think twice about it; he threw the condoms on the dash of the car and headed into the hotel.
"Hey, the label said they offered full protection."
The parking carabineri must have agreed. No ticket on the car in the morning. I guess they figured it was good that he was practicing safe parking.
I took the bottle of Astroglide. It's a super-powerful lubricant.
I applied a liberal coating all over my rental car... I can now easily park my Renault in a space even a motorcycle couldn't squeeze into.

TBG Out-

Overheard conversations.

If you were an innocent bystander wandering into the bar in the lobby of the Turin Palace this evening about 11:00pm this is the conversation you might have heard:

(Female voice):"...and they also said I should see the smock they have here on display in Turin."
(Long silence)
(Male voice 1): "The Smock?"
(FV): "Yeah, some old religous relic of some sort."
(Male voice 2): "The Smock of Turin? Hmmm... I did see The Apron... And there was the Glove of Turin over at the train station."
(MV 1): "Oh yeah, the Smock of Turin. I hear it is ever so much nicer than the Red Socks of Boston or the Vail of Colorado."

At this point, you should leave the area immediately... Whatever they are suffering from might be contagious.

TBG out-

Italy, Continued...

So, a big shout out to all my peeps who chimed in with ways
to use my 35000 Italian postage stamps...

Especially the witty suggestion about mailing myself back home.

My reply, with all due respect: Bite me.

On to current events...

For those of you who think this is such a wonderful gig...
This is the scenic venue where we have been doing our testing.


Beauty, eh?

TBG out-

Monday, December 12, 2005

Italian holiday

On the road again: Yadda yadda yadda, pain-in-the-ass plane ride.
(Good news- Exit row. Bad news- right next to the bathroom. Enough said.)

Malpensa airport: Blah blah blah, Italian airports, Italian baggage claim, Italian highways, Italian Italians.

In Turin: yack yack yack, old hotel, crappy cable system, no parking.

Hmmm... Anything else? Oh yeah....

I need some Euros, and I try to find an ATM here close to the hotel.
I find one right down the street from the entrance to the hotel.
I stuck my card in ands waited for the prompts- I missed hitting
the "English" button, no big deal, I thought, I can puzzle through
the menus in Italian... (Not like the ATMs in China...)
So I cruise through the menus, 350 Euros...
No Problems...whirr-buzz-click.
Hmmmm....
Did you know that there are lots of things you do with an ATM over here?
Listen to Uncle Jay... Make sure you hit the "English"
button before starting your transaction...

So... Does anyone need 350 Euros worth of stamps?

Thursday, December 08, 2005

A guy walks into a bar...

...A man walked into a bar and sat down next to a man with a dog at his feet.
"Does your dog bite?" he asked.
"No." he replied.
A few minutes later the dog took a huge chunk out of the man's leg.
"I thought you said your dog doesn't bite!" he said indignantly.
The other guy replied, "That's not my dog."

...This mushroom walks into a bar and starts hitting on this woman... She, of course, turns him down. Not willing, to give up, he pleads with her...
"C'mon lady, I'm a fun guy..."

...This horse walks into a bar.
The bartender says "Hey, buddy, why the long face...

...These two strings walk upto a bar.
The first string walks in and orders and the bartender throws him out and yells "I don't serve strings in this bar...
The other string ruffs himself up on the street and curls up and orders...
The bartender shouts, Hey, didn't you hear what I told your buddy?"
String says "Yeah."
Bartender says, "aren't you a string?"
String says, "No, I'm a frayed knot..."

...This grasshopper walks into a bar.
The bartender says "Hey! We have a drink named after you!"
The grasshopper replies "Really? You have a drink named Steve?!"

...This baby seal walks into a bar.
The bartender asks, "What'll ya have...?"
The seal says, "Anything but a Canadian Club...

...This skeleton walks into a bar and says, "I'd like a beer and a mop..."

...A neutron walks into a bar.
"I'd like a beer" he says.
The bartender promptly serves up a beer.
"How much will that be?" asks the neutron.
"For you?" replies the bartender, "no charge"


...A three legged dog walks into a bar and says,
"I'm looking for the man who shot my paw..."

...A hamburger walks into a bar.
The bartenders says, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve food here..."

...A termite walks into a bar and says, "Is the bar tender here?"

...A snake slithers into a bar and the bartender says,
"I'm sorry but I can't serve you."
"Why not?" asks the snake.
The bartender says, "Because you can't hold your liquor..."

...A guy walks into a bar with a set of jumper cables.
The bartender says "Hey man, don't you start anything in here..."

...A guy walks into a bar. "OUCH!" he said...

...Two peanuts walked into a bar, and one was a-salted...

...Two vampires walked into a bar and called for the bartender.
"I'll have a glass of blood," said one.
"I'll have a glass of plasma", said the other.
"Okay," replied the bartender, "that'll be one blood and one blood lite..."

...Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.
One says, "I think I've lost an electron."
The other says "Are you sure?"
The first says, "Yes, I'm positive..."

...Two cartons of yogurt walk into a bar.
The bartender, a tub of cottage chesse, says to them, "We don't serve your kind in here."
One of the yogurt cartons says back to him, "Why not? We're cultured individuals."

...a man walked into a bar, sat down, and ordered a beer.
As he sipped the beer, he heard a soothing voice say "nice tie!"
Looking around he noticed that the bar was empty except for himself and the bartender at the end of the bar. A few sips later the voice said "beautiful shirt."
At this, the man called the bartender over,"Hey...i must be losing my mind," he told the bartender. "I keep hearing these voices saying nice things, and there's not a soul in here other than us."
"It's the peanuts" answered the bartender.
"Say what?"
"You heard me" said the barkeep."it's the peanuts... they're complimentary."

...A group of chess enthusiasts and were standing around in the entrance of a bar discussing their recent tournament victories.
About an hour later the bartender comes out from behind the bar and asked them to disperse.
"But why?", they asked as they moved along.
"Because," said the barkeep, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

...It was a doctor's regular habit to stop off at a bar for a hazelnut daiquiri on his way home and, aware of his habit, the bartender would always have the drink waiting for him at precisely 5:18 PM.
One afternoon as the end of the work-day neared the bartender was dismayed to find he was out of hazelnut extract but, thinking quickly, he threw together a daiquiri made with hickory nuts and set it on the bar.
The doctor came in at his regular time, took one sip of the drink, then exclaimed: "This isn't a hazelnut daiquiri", to which the bartender replied, "No, I'm sorry, it's a hickory daiquiri, doc."

And my personal favorite:

...Rene Descartes walks into a bar.
The bartender asks "Would you like a beer?"
Descartes replies "I think not" and POOF! he vanishes...

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Dry Tortugas Pics...

Ah, welcome Constant Readers.
You are in luck today!

The fair Leanne Maher from Key West has contributed a fine new pic from Garden Key.
Only a few days ago this photo was alive and singing on the edge of the moat at Fort Jefferson, and now it has been captured, skinned and mounted for your viewing pleasure here at Listen 2 Uncle Jay...

Bush Key/Garden Key Landbridge - June 2005


Same spot, Thanksgiving Weekend.



(For you plebians who don't know the fair Leanne, she is a woman of style and generosity, whose good nature and kind heart has kept me from starving [or worse] on many a long day in the Tortugas. She was one of the kind folks on the Yankee Freedom II out of Key West, one of the ferries to Ft. Jefferson. [Her SO, Buddy is still on-staff with the YFII.] Often she had turned a blind eye to my pilfering from her table of goodies and coolers of cold beverages when she would supervise luncheon for the unwashed masses down at DRTO... Good times, good times.)

Thanks Annie, you're the best!

TBG out.

Republicans & Democrats

(Stolen from Neal Boortz)




Yeah...

That ought to pretty much cover politics...

TBG out-

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Hurricane season 2005

One last thing...
(I promise, no more posts today...)

Many people have asked me how things went this year down in the Tortugas with all the hurricanes. It seems like every time I turned around DRTO was about to get whalloped...

I went out to Intellicast to have a look at the season summary to see what the combined tracks looked like...

Holy Crap!


Look closly...


DRTO was Ground Zero for 5 storms this year....

I just got the OK to head south after TR2* and the holiday, so on Dec 26th I'll be heading for Key West and I'll be on the M/V Ft. Jefferson on the morning of the 27th.
Word around the campfire is that the landbridge between Garden Key and Bush Key is completely gone, there is a new cut through Bush Key and the seaplane beach was eroded back to the original concrete ramp from back in the 40s, I believe...


The Landbridge.

Watch this space for updates and photos.

TBG Out-

*- TR2: NBC's Technical Rehearsal 2 for the 2006 Winter Olympics, in Torino Italy. I'm in Torino & Bardonecchia from 12/10 to 12/21.

Flight Path

If you uh...enjoy...air travel as much as I do, you might get a kick out of this visualization of air traffic...

(You'll need Quicktime to view the graphics...)



See Aaron Koblin's Flight Pattern Visualizations website:
http://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/faa/

Way too cool.

TBG Out-