10/11/07

I am pissed off at e-mail systems yet again. If you are reading this, then I have replied to an e-mail from John and sent today’s rant. I, once again, am vowing to never initiate another e-mail. On a lighter note, Zippo! Oh wait, I’ve used that “joke” before haven’t I? Sorry. Anyhoo, I’ve gotten some e-mails from folks telling me about the Automobile Magazine article I'm in. I am assuming it is the one about the Tail of the Dragon trip. I haven’t gotten my copy of the magazine yet but plan to eat nothing but sushi for a few days so I can, literally, wait with baited breath! Ha ha, get it? Baited breath! Because it’s raw fish! That’s funny! Ok, I'll stop now. John has gotten a bunch of cancellations on the track day and sent out an e-mail saying he was thinking of calling it off. I told him Gregg and I would pay for it if need be. I also agreed to trailer the Seven out so we can tow his 510 home if he breaks it. I was and wasn’t looking forward to driving the Seven out there so this gives me a good excuse to not make a decision. I'd still like to find a way to get Matilda out there as well but I don’t think it is going to happen. Bah, this is not doing it for me at the moment. I think I'm going on a futile search for the Automobile Magazine website. I know going in that I will not find it, but I'm going to waste the time anyway. And what do you know? It was a total waste of time. I could have called the house and asked mom if a copy of the magazine had come in the mail, left work early, gone to the airport, hopped a flight to Anne Arbor (or wherever the magazine is published), rented a car, driven to the magazine office, waited for someone to see me, pled my case, gotten a copy hot off the press, thanked the ever so helpful person, offered to take them to dinner for their efforts, asked, “Are you sure? I don’t mind,” returned the rent car, hopped a flight back here, driven home, and read the article on the toilet in the time it took me to NOT find it online. Information super highway my ass, it is more like lack-of-information speed-bump in a dirt parking lot. I hate computers. I'll be on the front lines when Frank Herbert’s “Butlerian Jihad” occurs. I’ll wave my pitchfork in the air and shout, “Destroy all thinking machines!” at the top of my lungs. What? You’ve never read the “Dune” series? Don’t. It really isn’t all that good. Well the first book is ok, the second is tedious but readable, and the rest are a test of will to make it to the end. Yes, I have read them all, twice. I don’t know why I read them the second time, masochism I guess. Actually, I picked up the first book and started in on it after seeing the movie again. That would be the 1984 Dino DeLaurentiis version and not the Sci-Fi channel one a few years ago. Anyhoo, I picked up the first book and, like I said, it is ok. So I figured I wasn’t giving the rest of them a chance and they couldn’t be as bad as I remembered. They are. Well no, they really aren’t “bad” per se, but they are stilted and tedious and not an easy read. As for “Dune” movies, when I become Emperor of Earth, it will be a capital offense to make another one. Not that the D DeL version is some sort of epitome of “Dune” movie or anything, in fact it is just as bad as any version, but the whole story and concept and execution just never pan out. Oh man, I think I might hate “Dune” as much as I hate computers. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it. How the hell did I get on this subject? Oh, I see, the Butlerian Jihad. Yeah, in the Dune universe, there was an uprising against computers and “thinking machines” which were all destroyed and forbidden forever. In order to make all the necessary calculations for science and stuff, people called Mentats were trained in the use of some kind of mind-enhancing drug, or some such BS. And hilarity ensued! Ok, so I actually got bored telling you about it and decided to not go on. If you want to know more, read the damned books. Go on, I dare you! Well, I think I’ve had just about all of this that I'm going to take for today. Perhaps I will give one, and only one, attempt to send this to Spiderman. If you are reading this, then I succeeded somehow. Have a day.