Stories on the run

I just couldn’t resist posting this picture from Lisa’s blog. In front of my face is a magnifier for elderly newspaper readers. She explains.

Just the other day, I was driving around listening to George Carlin on my iPod, and I thought, “Man, it will suck the day he dies.”

It sucks.

Carlin, 71, died yesterday of heart failure. The counterculture comedian was a hero of many generations, from the Boomers to X to Y to the Millennials. He got my friends and me through our “angry” private high school years, and I have all his books. I have mentioned before that I have been known to listen to his books on tape (disc? mp3?) while going to sleep. As raspy and invasive as his voice can be, it’s surprisingly soothing. A real radio voice (which is how he got his start).

When I was in Denver, I saw a promo for an upcoming performance by Carlin there. I’ve always wanted to see him in person. I think he came to Seattle a few times when I lived there. I’d be surprised if he ever came to Spokane. But now it’s disappointing to know I’ll never see him in concert. The closest I’ll ever come, now, is his famous HBO specials.

I guess he swallowed too much of his own saliva.

RIP, George.

I’ve been withholding a post like this for quite some time, not wanting to sound like a whiner when I still choose to drive around my beast of a Suburban. But these gas prices, if you haven’t noticed, suck.

You know how gas stations used to have a $75 limit per purchase at the pump? Well, I have to admit, I noticed the very week most gas stations raised the ceiling. Two or three months ago, I was maxing out that $75 limit, but usually filling my tank almost all the way.

Now the limit is $99. And it’s not like someone happened to tell me the limit is now that high. I found out for myself.

It’s really time for a different car.

It’s been a rough past few years for the journalism industry. No, I’m not just talking about finances. First, Peter Jennings dies. Then, today, Tim Russert. Go get ‘em, and godspeed.

UPDATED 6/9/08: Cliffe, from VintageSeattle.org, commented on this post that there’s a new skyline post on his blog from 1979. So, look at the four skyscrapers Seattle had just 30 years ago.

I stumbled upon this blog via Victor’s blogroll … and it rocks. It’s a goldmine of awesome pictures and information about the history of Seattle. Most interesting, to me, is seeing how the city’s skyline has changed in just a short 50 years.

Compare:

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Dude. You know what’s cool? Science.

No, I’m not stoned. Recently I’ve gone on a bender of revisiting one of my old fascinations: space travel, namely the Apollo missions to the Moon. It’s been the subject of a few of my most recent “Wikiwandering” episodes.

So these past few days, as the Moon as been nearly full and the skies have been clear, I’ve looked up at the Moon and thought, “wow.” We sent people up there back when we were using slide rules, when a computer as powerful as my laptop would have barely fit inside a building.

And we left all this junk up there. And it’s still there!

The Moon, as you might guess, photographed from my porch tonight.

In my second-to-last post, I promised I would post more about the new things that have happened. I didn’t — except for going to the graduation ceremony.

But let’s consider this a second teaser, considering I have more news. It’s been a few days, after all. Let’s see ….

I did end up getting a different and better apartment. I gave Lisa an awesome book (I think it’s awesome — she hasn’t taken it from my apartment) for graduation. I’ve been working my ass off. And random things like watching a giant oil tank slowly make its way through downtown Pullman.

Sorry, everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve written. I don’t even know where to start.

It was quite the busy weekend here in the Inland Northwest. Jacob came into town. Lisa’s family came into town. WSU seniors graduated. The Bloomsday Run was Sunday in Spokane. My no-longer-soon-to-be landlord rented my Spokane apartment out from under me.

Don’t worry. This is just a teaser. I’ll post more.

EDIT: I was just about to publish this post when I realized I was typing it in Jacob’s WordPress interface. I resisted the urge to post. Sign out, Jake!

I used to row and take piano lessons. This was, you know, half a decade ago when I was in high school.

Today I spent the day editing a video on WSU rowing and playing along to Ben Folds on the piano.

Ah, the memories.

Actually, I figured out how to play the entirety of “Kate” today — well, the piano part, obviously. The notes and whatnot aren’t hard, but it’s technically difficult and the rhythms take some time to get down pat.

Lisa has posted a similar topic before, but today I was cruising the only web forum I cruise and found a thread called “People with great names.”

Among gems such as Magma Jesus and Staff Sgt. Max Fightmaster was the following man, whose arrest is documented in this article.

I don’t want to spoil it on the front page, so I’ll write the guy’s name after the jump.

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